Love of Red eyes
by Spiritual Stone
Summary: As Link pushes through his hardships, his growing love and suspicion of a certain guide slowly drives him insane. ::COMPLETE!::
1. Unbelievable Happenings

_**Love of Blue eyes – Unbelievable happenings**_

I ran as soon as something screamed. Alright, I'd admit, it was a bad idea coming to the Market when anything close or in it was far too dangerous and far too close to Ganondorf's castle to be nowhere _near_ safe, but the dream I'd kept having those couple of weeks were driving me mad. And in both repetitiveness and freakiness too. And if what my friend had said was right, it should stop after this. Never actually told him what the dream was about, but I really couldn't. Not much point in it if he was going to stop me and the dreams were going to carry on.

I ran up the stairs and hid behind a hedge, panting from the sprint. What _were_ those things anyway!? The living dead? What were they doing here? It wasn't like the place was filled with magic . . . well, the quickness of crushing the Hyrule castle and replacing with the black one sure as hell _seemed_ like magic, but . . . I hadn't seen much of it — if any at all — these past seven years. I calmed myself and stood, brushing myself off of dirt.

I wondered if what I was doing wasn't stupid. It sure as hell felt like it, since the Hero of Time has supposedly already awakened, making my little escapade worthless and pointless. But I might as well do it, since I was already near the doorstep of the Temple of Time, and I really wasn't in the mood of meeting . . . whatever those things were. By my wild guess they were Redeads, but they only came from stories; why would they end up in real life? I jogged up to the steps leading into the Temple, looking up at Death Mountain in horror. A constant hoop of flames circled around the mountain peak, like some angry dragon protecting its territory. I gulped, surer than sure that the ring of fire hadn't been there when I was living in Kakariko. And it definitely wasn't part of the dream either.

I shivered and turned away, the angry blaze reminding me too much of the fire I had seen at the night of Ganondorf's attack, when the Castle Town and the Castle itself had fallen. It had brought some moblins into Kakariko as well, and we had to fight for our lives that night, the town lit by the blaze and screams of the dieing in the Castle town. That night I had truly believed it was good to be a nephew to a carpenter; you had an arsenal of temporary weapons like saws and planks with nails hammered through them. But our house had fallen with some others, and we were moved down to the southern end of Lake Hylia – which had been increasingly losing water for the last four years – to a refugee camp.

Refugees in your own country. That really sucked.

I entered the Temple of Time, taking deep breaths to get back my normal heart rate. When was the last time I had entered? It was one hell of a long time ago, since, uncle really wasn't the religious types to come all the way to a different town just to pray and hear stories. From the inch thick dust that rested on the floors I saw that the place hadn't been cleaned in a long while as well, since nobody had dared to come for the past two years.

Except me.

I paled slightly at my own thoughts, wondering if I should go back. What if Ganondorf really had magic? What if he could sense an intruder around the castle and the town? Because if he could I was screwed. I'd end up dead with a strike of lightening, and left here to rot with the dust.

I shook my head away from those thoughts and ran towards the alter, where three gems were put into place. Why did they look so familiar? Behind it was another chamber and I ran for it, like it was told to me in the dreams. What happened next in the dream was bleary, and I didn't really remember it, except I had grabbed something like a stick and it had been blue.

I glanced in to find the legend of legends, making my jaw drop to the dirty floor.

The Master Sword!

Were the Goddesses kidding me!? Why was the weapon in plain sight!? And why was the thing right _here_!? To find something as rare and fabled as the Master Sword, didn't you have to go on some sort of quest? I thought of the excursion I had through the Market place, and shook my head. That surely couldn't count as a quest, since first, it wasn't really some big dungeon, second, I'd run from whatever that had littered the dead and dark streets of the town, and most of all, I was just Link. Not some Hero.

But as soon as I laid eyes on the sword, my dream replayed, making me go in a trance. Jumping over a dreary moat and broken bridge . . . hearing a drained and frightening scream . . . running through an empty grey town . . . seeing a dark castle ahead . . . climbing up a flight of stairs sandwiched by two dry lawns . . . white walls with a dark chamber at the back . . . three gems of river blue, forest green and fiery red . . . grabbing a blue hilt with the emblem of the Triforce . . . yanking it upwards . . . sharp red eyes meeting mine . . .

When it was over I felt dizzy, and I had to grab a wall to steady myself. Red eyes? I didn't remember seeing that in my dream, but I felt sure that I was supposed to give the sword a try. It occurred to me that only the Hero of Time could wield it, but I brushed it off, since the hero was supposed to sleep seven years before actually being able to use it. But then it occurred to me once again, that I may possibly get trapped in some limbo for seven years, but I shook it away. I was _not_, I said to myself again, _not_ the Hero of Time. Therefore, it was only a harmless observation to try out the hilt. Besides, what kind of teenager like me let the chance to touch a legend slip?

I stood in front of the pedestal and grabbed the hilt, feeling the fabric underneath to be rather familiar. I shook my head. C'mon, Link. The notion of touching the sword before was balderdash! But it still felt familiar. It was as if I'd done this before, except I'd had to reach up to grab, like I had been too small for it. I frowned, licked my lips, and pulled.

It slipped out so easily that I almost stumbled.

Blue light shot up from the pedestal, thin as a thread.

Oh shit. I had a _bad_ feeling I triggered something beyond my control.

The thin thread of light grew thicker and stronger, turning into a post, then into a pillar. As soon as it touched me, it froze me, and it enveloped me like some cloak, suffocating me. The light seemed to grow in strength and soon I was blinded as well as unable to breathe, crushed by the blue glow that had somehow gained weight and pounding my lungs.

Was I being lifted? Because I was sure for a brief second that I wasn't standing, but I wasn't lying on the ground either. And in that brief second things bashed into me, intangible but still forceful, like a wind in a storm, except it was more of an internal – heck, maybe even a spiritual – thing. Anyway, it hurt and didn't hurt at the same time; ultimately it just wasn't fun. When it was finished I was flung onto the ground, and I groaned, shaking my head.

When I clutched it I was wearing a hat.

. . . Huh?

Wow wait, where had that come from? I pulled it off of my head and examined it, finding it familiar again. What was it with the senses of repeating myself? It had to be the dream; it had to. But this sure didn't come out in it. If it had and I didn't remember, surely, I'd lost my mind. There was no other explanation. Besides, it made the most sense. How could I be sane after all these hallucinations? Either way, the long coned, forest green hat was something that I hadn't worn before, and so it was proof that I was going insane.

"Link. Welcome."

That sagely old voice was another proof that I'd lost my mind, too.

Wow wait, an old man? What was a defenceless guy like him doing in the Temple of Time, which happened to be next to a destroyed Castle Town? Which, my mind reminded me, was the very same thing I had decided to enter. I ignored my own thoughts and stood, finding myself in a completely different room from before.

The white walls were gone, replaced with darkness, and the occasional mass of glittery blue, floating in the blackness like tapestries showing the crystallized or the liquefied versions of a clear, cloudless sky. The floors . . . I stumbled backwards in fright when I saw that I was on a blue pillar – leading from the forever going blackness, if I may add – with a bright yellow Triforce emblazoned in the middle, with me in the empty white centre. Other pillars rose in six directions, with different colours of the rainbow and strange symbols scored into the jewel like platforms. This had to be a dream. It just _had_ to be.

"Your time has come; your presence in the Chamber of Sages will be honoured forever."

I snapped up my gaze to meet the old man's, who I had temporarily forgotten the existence of. He looked as if he was a priest or the vicar of the Temple with his elaborate brown robe, and his shaved head. His beard probably emphasized his rank or wisdom, and I found myself nodding to him to acknowledge his presence. He was shorter than me, and was on the chubby side, giving him a fatherly air. The next he said made me choke.

"Many have waited for you, Hero of Time."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The sky blue light faded, and I was back in the Temple of Time, much to my relief. But the reality of what Rauru had told me weighed down on me as I examined my attire, which was familiar, and now I knew the reason why. It looked just like the tunic I had worn in Kokiri forest. Even the hat was the same; except it was longer, and was sturdier, and it stuck to my head like glue (in a comfortable way, if such a thing was possible). I remembered everything then. I remembered the years I'd spent in the forest, the months when Navi had come to me, the weeks I'd spent wondering around the field with her, the days when I'd fought in the Deku tree, the Dodongos Cavern, and in Lord Jabu-jabu. I remembered having nightmares about Ganondorf, about Zelda's escape on her white horse, in the stormy night.

No wonder I had had an uncanny dislike for storms.

The thong sandals I had run in all the way from Lake Hylia were replaced with knee high leather boots, brown trousers replaced with white leggings. The red baggy shirt was replaced with a forest green tunic that matched my hat, and a white undershirt which I had been wearing all along. It was comfortable, and probably sturdy for a good fight, but I wondered. Where was the armour? How did they expect me to fight monsters and such unscathed? When I was a kid, I had opted for dodging more than hitting, and Navi had had to give me advice on when to attack, since every time I had done it without her consent, I had been tackled at. I'd thanked the goddesses none of the creatures I had fought had sharp teeth; I would've been dead if they had. I sighed and shook my head. I had to hope again that none of the things I had to fight had sharp teeth.

I looked around and noted the signs on the floors, which were identical to the coloured pillars I'd seen in the real Chamber of sages. I did a 'hmm' and turned away, imagining Navi insisting that we should go. What would be my response? I'd tell her we didn't know where to go.

The instinct I had trusted my life on all those years ago seemed as if it had come back with all the memories, and I swung my blade at the person behind me, who was sitting on the Sword's pedestal.

"There's no need to panic. I'm a friend." The first thing I noticed was his red eyes, the very same I'd seen in the vision when I'd seen the Master Sword for the first time that day. I cocked an eyebrow. I was going to need to keep my guard up if I knew I was the Hero of Time now.

"Do I know you?"

"No, but I know _you_."

I frowned. "Why would a guy like you know me?" since, this is the first time I saw him, and he wasn't in my just-found memories. He rolled his eyes. Well, the one I could see anyway, since his right one was covered by his fringe.

"Well you _are_ the Hero of Time everybody's been waiting for."

I twitched. _I_ just found that out a second ago and he already knows? "My name's Sheik, and as you've probably guessed, I'm Sheikah." He continued, pointing towards the emblem on his chest and his eye, "I'm not the last, although you don't see many in Hyrule. I'm here to help you out on finding out who're the sages. The question is, do you need it?"

I didn't need to consider, since I was desperate for it, but could I trust him? If I was right, Sheikah _were_ sworn to protect the Royal family, but . . . "What if I did?"

Like I said. I was desperate.

"Then I come with you. Since I _am_ already packed." He brought out a sack full of things, which impressed me. He sure was enthusiastic about this . . .

"So where are the Temples anyway?" I asked him as I sheathed my sword, watching him as he came near me. I couldn't risk getting stabbed, now could I? He scratched his forehead under his fringe, as if trying to remember. We were automatically strolling out of the temple as he recited the places of the next temples.

"One in a forest,"

"Kokiri." I decided, since no other place was big or magical enough to hold a temple,

"One in a mountain,"

"Death." It had to be. Why else was it in a state that it clearly said that it was in shambles?

"One under a lake,"

"Hylia." Well, that was the only Lake in the country.

"One in the house of the dead,"

"Kakariko." Firstly, it was the village the Sheikah built, and it was the only place old enough to hold a Temple. And it had the biggest grave yard in the country as well.

"And one in the Goddess of the Sand . . . ?" I noticed Sheik looked slightly bewildered, and decided he didn't remember much. Damn. He was my ticket and even _he_ was unreliable!

". . . I don't know where that one is." I confided, since I didn't even know there was sand in Hyrule. But before I could think about where it could be, I noticed we were already out of the building, and Sheik was wincing his blood red eye at the sight before him. I looked at what he found so displeasing and I hissed in air.

"It looks worse from up here." Honestly. The state of the Market just wasn't pretty. Instinct shouted at me again and I looked at the Sheikah, who was staring at me. I scowled. What was he up to?

"What are you staring at?" I asked him, making a brow lower onto his red eye. He was glaring now.

"You." he said, "How'd you know the town was decimated? At _this_ level?"

I rolled my eyes, not getting why he was so surprised. "Well I had to go through there to get here now didn't I? If it's the seven year sleep thing the prophecies are talking about, that's bull. The longest I've slept for the last two years is seven hours. I think the people who wrote the prophecies got that bit wrong."

He blinked and looked away, a calculating glint in his eye. He snapped his gaze back at me, glaring again. I cringed. I was going to have to get used to his eye. "What _now_?"

"What time did you grab that Master Sword? The date; the year. _Give it to me_."

It didn't occur to me why he would want that, but the glare he was giving me didn't give me much choice. "I don't know, somewhere in between twelve and one?" another glare and the date and year was out of me faster than a whip.

He held his elbows and looked down at the ground, probably thinking about something. Did he honestly believe that I was lying? What was the point in that anyway? And what was so wrong about the prophecies not being true? Sleeping seven years would suck, and I just wouldn't want to live with that. He looked up again, watching me in an unsettling manner. "Why did you even come to the Temple in the first place? Nobody would even dare to come near the gates if they had the choice."

I looked away, wondering whether to tell a good lie or the truth. "Dreams." I decided I'd spill. What was the point in lying anyway? "They've been haunting me for the past month or so. I heard from my friend that he had this reoccurring dream, and when he did the things as it happened in the dream, it didn't haunt him anymore. And since my dream was always about me, coming here, taking the Master Sword in my hand . . . I tried it out." I gestured towards my attire, slightly grimacing. "I didn't expect this to happen, I assure you."

He nodded and looked away to think again. Was I _that_ interesting? Yeah sure, a green tunic you don't see often, not to mention the Master Sword but . . . why did the Hero of Time have to be me?

I noticed Sheik's posture had changed, and he looked rather pleased with himself. "So she isn't such a ruthless bitch after all."

Okay . . . sudden burst of bad language? Not cool. And who was 'she'?

I hit him on the head, making him yelp. He held the place where I had slapped, glaring at me. "What the _hell_ was that for!?"

I hit him again, scowling. "For your bad language. As far as I'm concerned, there will be no swearing, cussing, cursing or insulting comments unless it's necessary. And as far as I could see, there was no need for it."

He grumbled as I walked away, and when I looked back, he seemed much younger. Like a kid that sulked just because he couldn't get his favourite candy or something. Either way, it was funny, so I rolled my eyes and waved him away, like I'd do to any of the kids in the refugee camp.

He glared me, and I grinned. I had a feeling I was going to like this guy. "So where do we go first?" I asked, walking down the temple steps on my own, "Death Mountain's closest?"

He joined me at a leap, and we were both at the base of the stairs. "No, we have to go in sequence, I'm afraid. We go to the Forest Temple. Your friend is to be a sage."

Alright. He had to be crazy. Alan being a sage? The guy couldn't even do proper equations, let alone philosophy! He cocked an eyebrow. "You live in the forest, don't you?"

A stab went through me, but I refused to show it. My past was _my_ past and I intended to keep it that way. I shook my head. "I'd been evacuated to the southern end of Lake Hylia since Ganondorf's first attack. And before that I lived in Kakariko. And . . ."

"Before that you lived in the forest." he finished, crossing his arms. "You had a friend there? One that seemed sage like?"

I thought for a moment, remembering the people in the Kokiri village. Immediately green hair and blue eyes with a yellow light swirling around met me, and glanced down at Sheik, making him frown. "Could you stop that?"

Guess he knew what I was thinking; that he was utterly crazy. I looked away and thought the possibility over, asking, "Are you saying that Saria is a sage?"

He rolled his eyes. "Is she your friend?"

Well, was. Once I had tried to go back to the Kokiri despite the loss of my fairy, despite I'd known I was a Hylian. I'd come out of the forest a day later, frightened out of my mind and wondering why I had entered the forest in the first place. The Kokiri had sealed me off; but had Saria gone against it? I hoped so. "Yes."

I hoped what I had said was true.

"Any other friends that are sagely?" he asked again, and shook my head.

"No." She was the only friend I had in that village anyway.

"And you have no other suggestion outside your loop of friends that are sagely?"

An ugly face of a ten year-old met my minds eye. I shivered. Why did _Mido_ have to appear, of all people?

" . . . No."

He shrugged. "It's probably her then."

The simplicity of his mind worried me.

When we were near the Market I played the Sun's song, which had come back with the memories. I remembered Zelda's lullaby, I remembered Saria's song. I remembered Epona's tune, as well. So many memories locked away because of some greater power and returned again, and I wondered whether I should be happy or not. These memories were painful; some things were best forgotten. When I finished this particular quest, will my memories be taken away again? I didn't know.

Didn't want to know, either.


	2. Painful Memories

_**Painful Memories**_

"C'mon, Link." Sheik called heartily, jogging ahead, "We should tell the Kokiri that the Temple's fine now!" he jumped off the platform that had the mark of the Forest Medallion on it, and began jogging towards the steps that lead down to the meadow.

"Yeah, I'll be there." I said, feigning my happy mood.

As soon as he had his back to me I slumped forward like a branch of a willow tree, leaning on my knees as sweat dripped down my hair. Sheik turned back at the lack of response, cocking his head to the side. "You okay Link?" he sounded almost impatient, if not tired.

I gasped, gulped in air and nodded as I leaned on my knees, fear and fatigue making me shake. That was what I'd have to go through for another couple of weeks? Monsters and demons like the ones on the Forest Temple? Only worse. Much, _much_ worse as we carried on. And Sheik was friggin' eager!? It was either he was crazy, or it was because he was a Sheikah therefore he was used to the demon thing. And obviously, he didn't get much blows as me, since he was hopping around, having the time of his life, while _I_ was in a world of pain!

Wait a sec. Did he just sway? And was the hopping . . . a limp?

My answer was of him crumpling the ground, gasping.

…Shit.

"Sheik, you okay . . . ?" I took several steps towards him, when dizziness swept through my conscience. I swore slightly as I was forced onto my knees, and then onto my fours. Sweat bleared my eyesight as they fell down my face and hair and onto the wet grass as I breathed harshly and coughed, my throat dry and hurting. Had all the things Sheik had done only seconds ago . . . been fake? What was the point of acting that he was fine when he clearly wasn't? Why did he do it?

The dizziness escalated at the number of questions I wanted to ask, and fell onto my side, grunting harshly. Shoot. My side was hurt. I lay on my back and reached for the wound, noting the ache when I touched it. Bruised. Fractured if I wasn't lucky. I lifted my hand to examine it, seeing the red liquid that lay on my gauntlets and skin. How had I gotten that . . . ?

Was it when Joel . . .? No she wielded fire. Beth? Ice. Amy? No, the green Poe had nothing compared to her sisters before, except her really creepy laugh that chilled me to the bone. It could've been Meg, with her lantern shards, but surely I would've noticed it before. And it didn't explain the big bruise, either. With difficulty I went through the fight with the boss of the Temple, shivering like a frightened hare as I recalled the demonic face of the real Ganondorf, as well as his skeletal Phantom's.

Phantom Ganon had fallen from his horse, which I had finished off by giving it a long cut down its ghostly black neck. Then both of Sheik and I had ambushed the phantom when it was on the ground, but a dark wave of powerful energy had flung us back. Sheik onto the floor, me, onto the spear-like fences that surrounded our arena.

Now _that_ explained the bruise as well as the blood.

But what was worse was that I'd been struck by his dark energy again, and I'd screamed at the power that raked through my muscles, pounded through my skull and had sucked almost all strength out of me. It was possible that I would've died in the next attack if Sheik hadn't pulled me out of its range. He had shouted at me to wake up – I hadn't noticed I was near unconscious – and hit the ball of dark energy back with the Master Sword; it was the only way to get the demon down to hacking range. We'd dodged again before I was able to stand, doing as I was told. It had worked like a miracle, and after the phantom had fallen and I had stabbed through its skull, it was thrown into a world between dimensions, leaving us with Ganondorf's voice.

I just _knew_ I was going to have nightmares about it.

But when the question about my injury arose, another question nagged at my already aching head.

Sheik's knowledge.

" . . . How did you know all that stuff?" I asked him, rolling onto my side to stop the bleeding, despite the pain of the bruise, "You're almost like Navi . . . except you actually have detail on how to beat these guys. Lots of it too."

I hissed at the pain in the side as well others on my body, gulping in air to continue. My hands shook as more images of the monsters came into my mind, scaring me. Damn it, if there was ever a Hero that was more afraid than me, I'd like to see the face of him! "Where'd you learn all about those monsters? Half of them I didn't even know existed, but you knew their names, habits _and_ how to defeat them all. What's up with that? How do you know so much?"

He groaned and turned his masked face to meet my gaze, making me see his red eye. "Training," he rasped, "has some quirks. I had to learn how to fight against different opponents. And the things I had to fight included ways of destroying monsters . . . and demons . . . the likes. . . I hated studying them, but . . ." he laughed dryly behind his scarf, drawing a smile out of me. Even in pain, he laughed. Seriously. He was a freak of nature. "I guess they paid off eh?"

I nodded before not being able to bear the pain in my side and lay on my back, but still clutching the wound to stop the blood from flowing. He glanced my way and struggled to sit up, but failed. I wished I had the strength to at least _try_. "You okay?" he asked instead, coughing up blood onto his scarf, making it look like a rose petal in snow.

I winced, wondering how hurt he was. "I'm fine." I strangled out, trying to force a smile. It came out as a grimace.

He looked like he didn't believe me but looked away, his fringe covering his other eye. Why did he cover it up, I wondered as he breathed deeply and calmly, although tensing up sometimes. What was he doing anyway? I was about to ask when he groaned and rolled onto his front, forcing himself up. He was on in his fours after a second, and when I saw that his calf muscle was bleeding, I tried to tell him to stop moving. When I opened my mouth he glared at me, and I clamped my teeth together.

You just couldn't say no to that glare.

He was out of my sight in a painful second, and I heard rustling, confusing me even more. What the hell? What was Sheik doing? I decided it hurt my head to think about questions that I couldn't ask, so I just lay there, hopelessly hurt and too tired to move.

The next thing I heard was a muffled thud.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The crash of the thing Sheik threw at me made my ear scream, cutting my cheek in several places in small nicks in the process, which made my cheek scream as well. Glass!? I was about to scream at _him_ for the meaningless thing he did, until I noticed a pink glow. It fluttered around my head in wisps, easing the pain.

Navi . . . ?

No, it wasn't Navi. First she'd been blue; not pink. Second she was gone; long gone. Why would she come back now, after years of leaving me to my devises? I sighed as the fairy fluttered around my face, my side, just anywhere that had some sort of injury, and nodded. It was more of a bob in the air, but I'd spent at least two months with a fairy; I knew what it did and it was a nod. She-he-it began circling me in tight circles, and then she disappeared.

Why did everything that hurt only a second ago was gone?

I sat up as I groaned, the pains healed but still hurting. I knew from experience that to use cut-and-healed muscles too quickly was a killer of sorts, but . . . I guess I never learned. I turned to thank Sheik, but I paled instead.

He was out like stone.

"_Shit_!" I scrambled towards him and checked that he was still alive, and then I tried to shake him awake. He just frowned and grunted painfully, his head tossing this way and that. Bloody hell he must've had more blows than I thought! Damn it how do I carry him without hurting him too much? Should I even be thinking of carrying him? Gaah, this wasn't good! I should've paid more attention to the healing sessions. I _would've_ if I'd known this was going to happen!?

Wait a sec . . .

I rummaged into my pocket to find the fairy ocarina Saria had carved for me years and years ago, a little worn over the years. I held it to my mouth and played my friend's song, begging that it would work even though I hadn't used in ages, even though Saria was now a sage, even though I didn't have Navi to send the magic from her to Saria's fairy, Aloe. I was desperate; just plain desperate.

I felt a small connection. It was small, it was barely there, but it was there.

" _. . . Link?_"

"Saria! Oh thank Furore, I need your help. Sheik's out like a candle, and he's hurt and I don't know what to do!"

"_Relax Link._" She said in his mind, her voice faint and whispery, "_Do you remember the weeds near my house that kept growing? The ones that I dared you to eat?_"

Yeah, I remembered. It was pretty funny, as I had relayed that prank on Mido and had laughed my guts out for it, but, "How's that supposed to help!?"

"_That weed's sometimes used as a herb or medicine. There's some in the Temple's garden. Force it into his mouth and it'll wake him up; you can't treat him if you don't know what's wrong with him_."

"Um… Uh . . . okay." I did just as Saria told me, returning only minutes later with the weeds. She'd instructed me to get other plants from the gardens of the Temple too, and I had picked as much as I could, dumping them onto the ground beside the Sheikah's blonde head.

The fern I'd eaten all those years ago, for weeds, were quite big. They were hard to bite, and frankly tasted really, really, bad. It was like they set your tongue on fire with sparks made through cracking rocks together. And if you're a kid aged ten, it's hard to cut, since it could break your jaw just by trying to bite it. I growled as I tried to rip the long leaves into squares, failing quite badly.

But I did it in the end, and had a good pile when I was done. With it I shuffled to Sheik's side, holding a piece of the weed. Okay, his scarf was in the way. I lifted my hand to pull it down.

Sheik's hand had my wrist before I could blink.

"Don't even think about it." He growled, forcefully opening his eyes. The eye I could see was faint with fatigue, but they still had mild anger for what I was going to do.

"I was trying to wake you up." I said in my defence, making him scoff.

"And this involves my face, how?"

"The herbs were supposed to wake you up!" I insisted as he rolled his eyes. Well, I could only see one, but you could hardly roll your eyes without doing it with both, right? Anyway the gesture pissed me off, so I pulled my hand away and shoved a square into his palm and told him to try it.

He did so silently, slipping the weed under his mask and swallowed. I smirked as his eye bulged and he gagged horribly, the hot substance of the plant burning the insides of his mouth.

I almost expected him to demand why the hell I had done that to him, and I had a perfectly good retort already worked out, but once he had calmed down he hissed through his teeth, saying, "Point taken."

I sighed, relieved and disappointed at the same time, handing him a canteen of water to snuff the heat in his mouth. He took it with gratitude, but didn't drink. I frowned, now annoyed. "Why do you hide your face so much? Is it some kind of tradition, or do you have reason? It's not like I'm _not_ on your side."

He glanced at me before sighing, hissing through his teeth. "I'm paranoid, okay? I have this feeling that if the enemy sees my face, they'd give the description to Ganondorf; I met him once . . ."

"Vwat!?"

He winced. Of course I'd react if I just a heard a friend had met Ganondorf! You better not be on his side . . .

" . . . When he attacked the castle."

Oh.

"A glimpse was enough to scare the blood out of me." he forced himself up, now sitting, "And, there were families I couldn't save, friends to people I was able to save. They sometimes look at me as if it were my fault that they'd died in the attack . . ."

"It wasn't your fault." The firmness of my statement even surprised me. Sheik looked at me and he sighed, turning his head to the side so he faced the other way. His shoulders sagged with unseen weight.

"I'm glad that someone thinks that, but it won't change the opinions of those who hate me."

I frowned. What had happened to the Sheik that had said sarcastic remarks towards the monsters he and I had faced, so full of confidence and the strength to survive? He was staring into the wall ahead, brooding over the nightmares he had had to live through for the last two years.

Honestly, I couldn't think of any other way to snap him out of it. I poked a wound in his shoulder, making him shout a swear. The reaction was much stronger than I'd expected; he was doubled over and was holding his arm below the wound, and I couldn't help but giggle.

He glared daggers at me as he growled like a wild hound while I tried to contain a laugh behind my hand, failing miserably like the business with the plants from before.

"Give me one bloody good reason why I shouldn't kill you." he snarled as his hand lingered towards his hip, where a long belt full to the brim with knives dangled.

I raised my hands in mock defeat and I brought out a pile of herbs from my side, which I'd brought with the weeds. "Sorry; I couldn't think of any other way to snap you out of there. Look, I've got herbs Saria explained to me about for different wounds. What hurts? Where? I'll fix you as much as I possibly can, so forgive me?"

His posture changed, and he sighed. "Fine."

I grinned as he told me the wound I'd poked was a nick from a Stalfos. I ripped the cloth of his shirt and saw that it was inch deep and had a lot of pebbles in it. It was bleeding pretty badly too. Ouch.

"Oi!" he said, trying to snatch the injured limb away, "Give me warning won't you? That's a very precious piece of my heritage, and frankly, I _like_ being covered, thank you!"

I ignored him.

I brought out a round-ish bud and popped it, making ooze fall onto his injury, making him tense. "You okay?"

He nodded vigorously, even though the eye I could see was screwed shut. "Just a little colder than expected." He gritted out as I went for his sack for a bandage. The process of telling and fixing and complaining continued, and when I was done he was able to stand up, his energy not recovered, per se, but better none the less.

He was staring at me again, and I frowned. "What're you looking at?"

"You, duh." He chuckled, pulling the rip of his shirt that was _supposed_ to cover his bandaged shoulder before offering a hand to help me up, "I was just… wondering who this Navi was, that's all. Must've been a smart person if she knew about monsters and the like. When did you know her? What was she like?"

I smiled nostalgically as he helped me stand, the whisper every time she came out of my hat, and the 'Hey, Listen!' she always gave out when I ignored her coming back. "She . . . was a fairy I had as a friend while I still lived here, in the forest. The Deku tree assigned her to me so she could help me along with getting a curse off of him. It didn't work, though…"

The image of the dead tree came back forcefully. It had rotted severely over the years.

" … I'm sorry."

I shook my hand at him, gesturing that there was no need for apologies. Think of Navi, think Navi… "She was sometimes annoying, but she tended to have good advice and she helped me through lots; sneaking into the castle, meeting the Gorons and getting rid of their problems with dodongos, getting myself into . . ."

A certain memory rushed into my mind, and I gulped with fear. I'll just hope _she'd_ forgotten that bit, huh.

"What?" Sheik asked me, snapping me out of that creepy flashback, "You look like you've seen . . ." he stopped, thinking over his next words. I cocked an eyebrow, and he just shook his head. "I . . . won't say ghost."

I nodded with a smile, saying, "Please and thank you."

He laughed and told me to carry on. "Well," I continued as we gathered our equipment, "I got myself into Lord Jabu-jabu, and yeah, I tried pulling out the Master Sword, since the Princess told me to do it. After that there was this _zoom_ . . . ish, kind of noise, and, she just left me. I searched for her, but didn't go too well. I asked the Deku tree why she left, and that was when I learned that I was Hylian."

There was a moment of silence before Sheik asked another question, sounding sullen. "You meet the Princess after that?"

I shook my head. "She was busy embroidering."

He laughed again, but this time coldly. Now, why did that give me the feeling that he didn't really like the Princess?

"What took Rauru so long to explain to you what was going on? You'd lived through the seven years of the prophecy that said the Hero was to sleep, right? You knew what was going on. Why did it take forever to explain?"

I grinned sheepishly, scratching my head under the green hat. "I couldn't really believe that I was the Hero of Time, and turns out, the Master Sword had erased all my memory on the fights I had with Ghoma, Kind Dodongo, and the really annoying Barinade, so yeah. Took a while to come through." I stopped the urge to shiver at the memories that had flied through my brain, of the giant skultulas, the falling anemone, the lizards that had no legs, the jelly fish that swum in thin air. It had been a serious pain remembering all that in fifteen minutes – five minutes per dungeon – and I'd been too shaken to listen to Rauru a second. Sheik looked thoughtful as I pushed my mind out of the encounter with Rauru, and into reality.

"Hm …"

I didn't know what to do next, so I laughed. He looked at me weirdly with his red eye, and I said, "Why are we here anyway? We bet the first boss, I have the medallion, why don't we get on to the next one?"

I stood and brushed myself off, extending a hand out to him. He shrugged as I helped him up, getting his pack sorted as I walked on ahead. I noticed I'd missed something, and I looked back at him, grinning.

"Thanks for the Fairy by the way. Really helped."

He shrugged. "Can't let the key between peace and domination die now can I?"

I mock pouted at the comment, pretending to be hurt. "Aw, am I just some tool of destiny that your small, cold heart can't look out for?"

"No, I'm just saying . . . Hey! Nobody calls me cold hearted and gets away with it!"

But I'd already run down the stairs when he'd finished his sentence. He screamed at me as he chased me, yelling swears that I would have to hit him for later. Or once he'd healed; I didn't really mind; just as long as I was I was able to hit him.

Sheik was fun; he lightened the burden that was the Title of being The Hero of Time. He reminded me that it was my choice to back away from the duty if I wanted; it just left Hyrule defenceless, and in a way, that gave me strength (although it felt a lot like blackmail…).

I didn't have to do it for the country; I could do this for my friends and people I considered family, and even if I'd only spent very little time with the guy, Sheik was one of them. He had secrets, sure, but none of them could kill me; it wasn't like I didn't have secrets of my own. I'll listen when he's ready to tell, and if he never tells, well I guess I'd have to live with that eh?


	3. Mysterious Brothers

_**Mysterious Brothers**_

"_Holy_ . . . !" I bit my lip, trying not to swear. I always kept nagging at Sheik not to; how and why did it give me the right to do so? Sheik huffed at the lack of reaction, taking the wet cloth off of my burn to dunk it in a bowl of water suspended over blue fire with a tripod. I grinned as soon as he turned his back, glad that I had disappointed him. It was the only way I could spite him in the situation I was in, so I had to opt for that small victory.

I had to admit, I was a desperately lame guy.

"Yeah." he said dryly as he came over with the newly soaked cloth, "You holy asshole, for nearly _killing yourself_." I winced at the bad language and at the cold cloth, which was now soaked in iced water. I knew it was good for me, but it still hurt. I gritted my teeth as the cloth landed with an awful _splat_ onto one of my blisters, making icy water war with my fiery burns. It made the pain worse in its own cruel way until my injury was too numb to feel anything. I suppressed a whimper and hissed instead, thinking over how many times I'd have to go through the same pain as Sheik brutally healed the rest of my burns on my chest and back.

Damn Volvagia …

He grunted gruffly before dapping the cloth in a softer manner around the wound, slowly cooling it. "You ever do that again, seriously. I'll kill you."

I chuckled at the contradictory comment. "Then why are you healing me now? Didn't you say a couple of days ago that I'm too important to die?"

He scoffed as he spread a soothing salve over my burn, making me almost sigh. Until he slapped the cloth on another burn that is. Damn Sheik…! "There's such a thing as a worse fait than death, Link. Remember that." He growled, watching me scowl as the cool harassed the heat of the burn. I was at last able to breathe when the salve was put onto the wound.

"The way you say it kind of freaks me out. More so than that of someone else saying it. Is this a primary example of what you just said?" I asked him as he rolled his eyes.

"No, and good. No, because if this was an example, I wouldn't be healing you; I'd be adding extra burns on your skin. And good, because at least it might give you a chance of not forgetting that fact."

I chuckled again. "Aye-aye, captain."

The wet cloth hit me across the face.

I slipped it off and put it on my forehead, feeling like I was having some sort of fever. But Sheik would've told me if I had a fever. He knew those things. Something told me not to trust him so quickly, but then I waved the thought off as I watched him scavenge through the cabinet for things, putting it on the cabinet as he searched. If he really was my enemy, why wouldn't he kill me now? Why would he tell me that there was a fait worse than death? And even though it was brutally done, he was healing me. That was almost proof enough that he didn't intend to kill me, right?

I relaxed and watched as he cut tape into shape, placing gauze onto the salve. The way he did it was soft and comforting, and I couldn't help but feel as if that he wasn't what he seemed.

He frowned when I held his hand, examining it.

"What's so interesting about my hand, if you don't mind my asking?" he grunted as I turned his limb over, noting the size, the shade, and texture. It wasn't really callused, come to think of it…

"You have small hands." I also commented, pressing his palm against mine. "Compared to my hands, anyway."

He snatched his limb and away and knocked my forehead with a fist. Ouch. "I'm small in general; so what. I wasn't trained to use a sword so how do you expect me to have _paws_ big as yours?"

I chuckled and shrugged, telling him I'd take that as a complement. He huffed and finished the last burn, ordering me to turn over. I did so with some difficulty, since my limbs were stiff and aching thanks the Fire Temple. Once I was half way there he nudged me on my back, making me fall and pain travel across my skin like fire on oil.

And it _hurt_.

I shouted painfully, glaring at the Sheikah in a helpless manner. "What's up with you!? I'm alive and well aren't I?"

"You were _this_ close to dieing, buddy." He hissed back, placing the wet and icy cold cloth onto a small burn (forcefully) onto my back. I hissed and jerked at the sudden cold, sending my values about swearing to the wind as I cussed silently.

"You fainted from blood-loss and heat when we just got into Goron City." He brutally continued, both orally and physically, "The Gorons had to drag you down the mountain on a rock _plate_ like some dead fish while I ran down to the potions shop to get you and myself blue fire and herbs for healing. I had to wh_eel-barrel _you through town under a sheet of canvas so people didn't go over a panic that someone was hurt, and when they realised that the 'someone' was the bloody Hero of Time! And when you wake up, you say 'I'm thirsty'! And after worrying me to near death! Ugh!"

I wanted to protest. The Temple had been a hot pool of lava and volcanic activity! We were in there for six hours! Why was it a crime to ask for water after that kind of horrid excursion? But then I sighed, thinking in Sheik's point of view. It kind of _did_ look like I had been near death. I apologized grudgingly, and he nodded, saying "Good."

I tensed up as I waited for another harsh slap of cold water, but this time Sheik was careful, and I breathed out, relieved out of my mind. Sheik was a strange guy, come to think of it. He seemed on the young side, since he came up to my nose in height, and his voice was on the high side too. Come to think of it again, there was a lot of stuff I didn't know about him.

Again, that dark doubt crept in on me.

"Sheik, how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

I turned my face to meet his gaze with difficulty, wincing at the pain in both back and chest. "Aren't you a little young for this?"

He scoffed. "We're only a year different in age, Link."

I frowned, a little insulted. "For your information, I'm turning eighteen in two months."

"We'll be the same age in three weeks." I turned back to my position before, a little miffed at the smugness in his tone. Well, one thing was for sure. He liked to catch people with their own words. He was kind of on the teasing side too. A merciless one at that.

Wait a minute? He was sixteen? I wonder…

"Sheik?" I asked, and he 'hmm'ed back. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

I yelped as he jarred my wound, coughing and choking on nothing. I twisted my body to look at him, finding his reaction somewhere near horrifying. He looked back at me in the same manner, and I noticed a red tinge just above his scarf. Was he . . . _blushing_!?

"What kind of question _is_ that!?" he blurted, looking very appalled, if not embarrassed.

I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my face. Finally, I had something to use against him. "You have one; don't you."

It looked like he was cringing pretty badly under that scarf and blush of his. "_No_! I don't have time for that!"

Well. If he didn't have one but the embarrassment was still there so, it was only fair for me to say it. "But you sure as hell want one."

He growled and pushed me back down onto the mattress, my shoulder blade screaming as soon as he touched the burn there. I yelled and swore as he slapped the cloth onto the wound, adding to the pain.

But I forced out a laugh; it was _my _turn to torture him. "You must feel lonely, not being able to have a girlfriend at your age. I was pining for one last year; ah, the good old days of being young."

"Being sixteen doesn't make me _pine_, nor does being seventeen count as being old. There's only one year difference." He gruffly replied, still a hint of embarrassment in his tone.

I chuckled. This topic was going too well for me to stop. I began singing, "Sheik wants a girlfriend, Sheik wants a girlfriend."

Pain stopped me when Sheik pressed on a burn near my spine.

"Well, if you're so interested about love-lives," he sneered, "Why don't you share yours? I'm sure you have a whole book of girls you'd like to tell me about."

I laughed painfully as Sheik refused to let go of my burn. "If you're asking whether I've been kissed or not, that's not the case. I had a crush on Malon, you know, from the Ranch, once. But then, I wasn't her type; and come to think of it, she wasn't my type either."

"Sheer physical attraction." He scoffed bluntly, making me laugh again. He was doing a poor job of turning the conversation to his advantage.

He finally let go of my wound and helped me sit up, wrapping bandages around my chest. I wondered for a second why he was doing it, since he'd already put on gauze onto the burns. They were uncomfortable to move in too.

"What was your job before you suddenly became the Hero of Time, anyway? From the way you swing that bloody sword, and by the fact that you actually _have_ muscle, it was a hard job?" he asked as he wrapped the linen, making me shrug.

I decided not to give him the satisfaction of hitting him for swearing; I was in no position to lecture, with so many burns at his disposal.

"I did the jobs nobody really wanted to do, like getting the cat off the tree, climbing the beam of a house-to-be to tie some rope where the roof was going to be, help forge metal tools by holding onto hot stuff, things like that. Mostly I helped cattle plough the field, since the cow _was_ growing old, or built houses, since my uncle's a carpenter."

I could easily hear the sneer in his voice. "_You_ were the cattle that did the ploughing, weren't you."

I tried to hit him, since I was miffed that he had the advantage over the conversation again, and I just felt like doing it. He blocked the blow, cocking the eyebrow I could see.

Life sucked when competing with him.

He left as I flopped back on the bed, groaning with disappointment. "Do the cuts yourself." He told me, "I've got my own wounds to deal with."

My body screamed when I sat up again. "You hadn't healed yourself!?"

He rolled his eyes. "You were unconscious, buddy. I had to wake you up first, didn't I? Oh don't give me that look, I'm not stupid enough to completely ignore my pains either." He pointed at a wet patch on his sleeve above his right elbow and other wet patches round his left leg, and I sighed in relief. He snorted and sat on a chair, sitting so I couldn't see the injury as he healed it.

I found it odd that he had to hide his whole leg to do it, though.

I saw that he wasn't doing well with his gauze and I offered to help, hoping he'd let me be useful for once. He declined the offer and carried on. I felt dejected as I went onto my cuts by putting antiseptic and bandaged them, having more trouble than expected. He made things look really easy with the way he did it. I failed twice to bandage a wound on my lower arm, and it really annoyed me. "Awgh, I suck at this!"

I swear, he was laughing at me in his mind. I repressed a sigh and decided I quit. I wasn't as good as Sheik, with his deft hands, his good knowledge, his sharp eyes, his lithe agility, his . . . damn it, he was so much better than me! Why wasn't _he_ the Hero of Time!?

Then I blinked. You know, come to think of it…

I looked at him dead in the eye and said, "You're kinda girly."

He seemed so shocked at the comment that he nearly fell off his chair. He glared at me with the eye I could see and saw murder. "What has that got to do with anything!?"

"Wait! Don't hurt me!" I mock pleaded, guarding my face with my arms, "I just thought it because you have small hands . . ."

"I'm small in general." he snarled back,

"Yeah, that too, you're good at healing . . ."

"That came with the training!" he shrieked, hands ready to strangle me, "My teachers didn't expect me to _die_."

"And you complain about swords." I finished, refusing to add my other arguments in case he officially decided to kill me, "It was just a general observation."

He scoffed and snatched the linen off of me; making me for a frightening second think he was going to kill me. "It was also quite sexist, since you mentioned I didn't use swords. For your information, girls can use swords too; and sometimes they can be better than boys."

I cocked an eyebrow. "You sure _sound_ like a girl to protect them like that."

He glared at me, venom in his tone as he tied the bandage harshly, "I had a sister; she was the best swordsman my family ever saw. You happy now?"

Guilt punched my gut. "I'm sorry."

His expression softened, unwrapping the linen to fix my wound for me. "No worries. I just get touchy when it comes to my… physique, per se. You don't how many times my superiors tormented me for it…"

He tied the wrappings and proceeded to fix a wound on his arm.

"No, I didn't mean that. I meant your sister."

He feigned an unconvincing laugh as he tensed. "A … ahaha. What are you talking about?" his hands were shaky when he tried to bandage himself.

"You said 'had'. Something happened to her, huh."

After a second he nodded painfully, pain in his red eye. "Her name was Willa. She was so… _strong_, and… that's something when it's coming from me. She was two years older than me and could beat father in a swords match. She was great when it came to weapons; she insisted on teaching me how to wield a sword, but I thought it was too bulky for my style. Then she insisted that I was jealous." he shrugged, adding, "Maybe I was."

Better than Sheik in fighting? Curiosity had a grip on me as I tried to imagine what she looked like. Sheik tossed me a locket and I opened it to find two drawings. One of a young girl of fifteen, with unruly hair tied in a side-ponytail, casually thrown a sword scabbard over her shoulder. On the other two adults and a baby posed in a formal manner, smiling graciously. Probably his parents, and a baby sibling. I asked for the toddler's name, and he told it me it was Flint, and he had been a pain in the ass. He laughed when I scowled.

He stood and put the linen on the bedside cabinet as he said, "They died a year ago."

My blood turned to ice.

"They tried to cross the border between their country and Hyrule's. I don't know why, maybe it was to meet me, or help me protect the princess, but the result was still the same. I found them dead near the Zoras River. Willa was still alive, so I asked Zelda to help… But she didn't give it." his fist shook as he continued, his voice strangled. "She said that it was too late, and trying to help would only be a waste of magic. I asked her to take Willa's pain away; let her die in her sleep, just anything. She didn't even listen. _The bloody bitch . . . _!"

In one blurry movement he kicked a chair and sent it across the floor, and one of the legs snapped. "She didn't know my sister! She didn't know her strength. If she'd been helped, there was a chance she would've lived! There was a bloody chance!"

I grabbed him by the arm before he could get at another chair, trying to calm him. "You've hurt yourself."

"I don't care!" he yelled, making my resolve harden.

"But _I_ do. Sit." He froze for a second and did as he was told, sitting on the seat he had nearly sent to oblivion. I sat on the floor and placed his foot on my lap, placing the cold cloth onto his foot. He hissed. He hissed again as I trailed my fingers across where his bones should be, feeling the cracks as I went. I pulled a hand through my hair, sighing.

"Fractured. And it's bad. Two on that bone, And one on that one." I touched the bones that lead to his big toe, and then the middle toe, and he gave me the same reaction. I sighed and walked up to a cupboard above the kitchen stove, pulling out a bottle with red contents. "I know this tastes horrible, and it sticks to the back of your throat like slime, but you're going to have to take it. You have both inner and outer bruises, and you won't be able to move around in that foot for at least three and a half weeks. We're going to heal it the easy and sometimes painful and disgusting way."

He whimpered as I poured a small amount into a cup, handing it to him. "But that's only for emergencies . . ."

"And it's an emergency if you can't walk for nearly a month. Now drink." He took it and asked me if this was revenge for the treatment I had go through before. I just told him to be a good boy and swallow, grinning.

I gave him a friendly smile as he scowled at me. "Thanks for telling me that."

He blinked, and I hurriedly explained myself.

"It's just that, it reminded me that I wasn't the only one who was dealing with this kind of thing, you know? I was orphaned when I was born, when the Unification war was going on. Mum died bringing me to the Kokiri, and dad died fighting in the war. I don't really mind them not being around, since it doesn't have to hurt every time I think about them . . . like you have to."

He lowered his eyes, quiet.

"When I walked around Hyrule market town when Navi left, I decided to go ask for the Princess for help, since she was the only one that seemed to know what was going on… but the guards caught me. That was when I met my uncle; he said he knew I was his sister's son by looking at me in the eyes. Don't know how he managed to do it, but turned into my legal parent. I lived here, in Kakariko, as his apprentice as a carpenter for him and my cousins for five years. It was tough, being the only hard worker around when my cousins floundered around a lot, almost doing nothing. And they kept calling me 'kid'; even my uncle. I didn't really like them as family, come to think of it."

He nodded, a curious air to his gesture. "If you lived here, why aren't we crashing at your house? This is Impa's place; frankly I don't feel too comfortable sleeping under this roof."

I cocked an eyebrow. Why would he feel uncomfortable under another Sheikah's house? Sure, she was a little creepy, but… it was strange. But I answered his question, since I got the feeling he wouldn't answer me even if I asked. "Didn't I say that I was evacuated? My uncle's house got burned down thanks to a couple of moblins, and space was needed to let in the Castle Town refugees. We got moved to the southern end of Lake Hylia where we built more housing – didn't get paid for it, obviously – and helped out with other stuff. Since I was still an apprentice in their eyes, I went to help other people do their jobs, like forging, ploughing, stuff like that. I guess the people I helped felt more like family because . . . I guess they actually _liked_ my company, unlike my actual family. They appreciated me, and that kind of made things better, I guess."

He nodded and stood, testing his foot. It held and he seemed satisfied as he went to his pack to rummage through it, throwing me a canteen of water. "You said you were thirsty before; I think it's about time you had water."

I smiled ecstatically as I uncorked the bottle, putting the hole to my mouth. The cool water went down my throat, growing warmer, hotter, biting . . .?

I spat it out as my tongue began to burn, realising that the water had an eerie green tinge.

"_Sheik_!!" I yelled as he guffawed, "You bloody asshole you put that weed inside the canteen! What's up with you, you want to kill me or something!?"

He shrieked in laughter and fell off his chair, still laughing.

I ran towards the kitchen to get water and bread, snuffing out the taste of the weed in my mouth. He was _so_ going to pay.

We ran around the house playing tag until he caught him in a headlock, and he played dead next. I dropped him on the floor where he twitched and writhed as if he was in constant pain. I rolled my eyes and threw the wet cloth onto his face, only to find it go _splat _across mine, stopping the ability to breathe. He ran faster than a horse as I roared after him.

I wondered if this was what it was like.

To have a brother.


	4. Cold Waters

_**Cold Waters**_

An arctic freeze penetrated me as I sunk. Pain seared through my leg, and I saw swirls of red float up in smoke like strings before mixing into the water, becoming nothing. I tried to kick the iron boots off, but then, how deep was the water here? How did I know they wouldn't be lost forever under the thick ice of the ice cavern? But then again, I'd die of lack of air if I didn't kick them off. So the question was this: My life or the country's?

I kicked them off before they could drag me down any further, since it was the same result if I died. I swam up as fast as I could, hitting a thick sheet of ice instead of air.

The little air I had been able to grab in my lungs was starting to burn my ribs.

I unsheathed the Master Sword and began hacking at the ice from below, trying to break free. But the freezing water had taken my sense of touch. I couldn't feel the Master sword as I tried to hack, and the grip I had on the hilt was weak. My attempts at escape were something along the lines of tapping at the ice, and I was slowly giving in to the urge to breathe out. Was that shadow above the ice . . . Sheik?

Damn it, I should've listened to him. Don't try it here, he'd said. No it'll be fine, I'd said, the water's been frozen for what, years now? I'd walked around in the heavy boots until the ice had cracked under me, resulting in my un-planned dive into freezing waters. The panic was slowly leaving me, replaced with dull fatigue, and the need to close my eyes and breathe out. But what would happen to me if I did . . . ?

I gave in to the urge and gasped, a great bubble of air drifted up to the icy shelf, floating there to watch me die. The panic returned at the lack of air, and the burning at my sides increased. I tried to cut through the ice again, but it wasn't working.

Slowly, the fight left me.

My arm felt no need to stay poised up and slowly sank with me, and I left for the dark oblivion that was unconsciousness, as well as death. Everything felt so… warm …

Somebody held my hand, pulling at me. I looked at the person and it turned out to be Sheik, looking smug, urgently tugging at my hand, guiding me somewhere. I stumbled in darkness, following his rather strong strides; his hand was beginning to break my own in his grip…

He suddenly stopped and turned; his eye was no longer red but a menacing gold, and his skin was becoming wrinkled, darker, tougher…

_Ganondorf_.

I cried out when he threw me to the floor, making a staff come out of nowhere and into his hand. He stabbed at my stomach, making me cough out blood. He grinned as some horrid power went through the staff, making my whole body writhe in _pain_. I felt energy drain out of me, the life leave my soul. I was about to close my eyes when someone jerked the staff from my midriff, and I breathed. Gods, nobody knew just how much I loved _air_…

I coughed and squinted; next thing I knew, Ganondorf was gone.

What the…?

A woman I knew nothing of kneeled next to me, stroking my hair. Golden hair cascaded around her head, framing her well tanned face. She was dressed in a white dress, and oddly she was blindfolded with a blue cloth.

"Who…?"

Suddenly I couldn't talk. Didn't want to. Something soft lay across my lips.

Until I coughed violently again, spitting water instead of blood.

I opened my eyes to find Sheik pulling at his mask, his red eyes angry and frightened. I never really thought a person like Sheik could look so scared…

"You stupid asshole." He growled, as he helped me sit up against a wall, "Don't ever make me do that again!"

I didn't know what he was talking about, but since he'd saved my life I decided I'd apologize. I shivered violently at the cold of everything. Of the air, the water that was soaked into my clothes, the clothes that stuck to me in a clammy manner, everything. The only thing that was warm was Sheik's hands and my cut that was bleeding new blood, and they burned compared to the freeze of the ice caverns.

My teeth chattered as Sheik confiscated my weapons, which confused me. "She-sheik?"

"I'm busy saving you. Shut up." He stripped me of my belt, and I began to doubt Sheik's actions. What was he doing? I was beginning to become a little frightened when he ripped at both my tunic and shirt, leaving me bare chest. The clammy cold of the clothes were gone, but it didn't change much. It was so cold, just so, so cold…

He pulled a cloak around my shoulders, and I almost laughed at myself. What had I been worrying about? There was nothing to fret over?

I was proved wrong when he hugged me. "Sheik, wh-what the . . . ?"

"I'm using my body heat to warm you up. Din's fire's too hot; your nerves system would crash down if I used it to warm you. And if the cold blood from your limbs gets to your heart too quickly, it could fail."

The tremor in his voice surprised me. I'd never really thought about him being afraid. Not once. I wanted to apologize, but urge to be warm took over me first, and I wrapped my arms around him, bringing him closer. "Th-thanks."

I heard him gulp, although I didn't know why.

"How are you feeling?" he asked me, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"P-pret-tty g-good, a-a-actually." I held him closer for warmth, the comfort of his body near me surprising me a little. I couldn't help but notice that he looked smaller in my arms, almost . . . fragile. I suppressed a laugh. Fragile. Small. Those things just _weren't_ Sheik. He was a great fighter. A scholar. A trained warrior. Not some . . . I couldn't think of a better word.

But he'd kill me if I said 'girl'.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

He was thrown towards the opposite wall, making direct contact with the spikes.

"_Sheik_!"

Slimy cold clung to my midriff, and I wasn't happy to know that I was going to end up just like my friend. Aw, cripes…

The slime shuddered. Next thing I knew I couldn't breathe, plunging straight into the water and clogging my breathing system. As I came up, coughing, gasping, it dawns on me that the slime that we were fighting most likely lived in the water for years, probably.

Sick. And. _Wrong_.

"Link, give me a hand here! Or better yet, _your stupid sword_!" I blinked through the muck to see a bleary figure of Sheik using his chain like a bat to keep Morpha away from the pool.

Scrambling over slippery rock ain't that easy, if you know what I mean. Sheik stumbled and missed, and Morpha dived for the water. I stepped in its way and it skewered itself on the Master sword with a sickening squelch (sick-and-wrong-sick-and-wrong-sick-and-wrong) and it was over. Sheik was the first to collapse, for a change.

I dropped the sword and panted on my knees. You know, I think I was getting better at the 'defeat the final monster' thing… "Hey… let me look at you."

He shook his head and ground out, "No."

His fist was curled into a claw from pain.

"Sheik, you have three holes in your back that should've been fatal; let, me have, a _look_."

"_No_, I'm _fine_."

I gave a growl. His bleeding at his back wasn't pretty. I was just surprised that they didn't seem so deep; honestly the speed at which Morpha'd thrown him hadn't been funny, and I'd been _so_ sure that my friend was going to be a goner…

"Just give me some Red potion. I'll… what are you doing!?"

I'd sat down right next to him, and wasn't surprised when he struggled against my hands that held his back. For once, I was really, really tired of him not wanting me to heal him. You'd think that he'd let me help, but _no_, I'm just supposed to lie back and sleep while he struggles to bandage his own wounds, toiling for half an hour on a cut that he could fix in five minutes if he'd _just_ let me _help_.

I examined the punctures in his skin, and… it was weird. Freakishly weird. Why… why were splinters sticking out of them? What the…?

He swatted me away, using my shock to his advantage. "I wear armour, alright!?"

Nothing could describe my appalled state of mind. "…That's it. You freak out just because I want to see whether you're not hurt too bad, but you don't want me to see some wood and leather. Oh, my, Din."

The eye I could see winced spectacularly as he moved away. "It's not like you wear one…"

"So!?"

"I… I didn't want to look weak…"

"That's the most pathetic excuse you've given me so far."

He looked stung, but I didn't care. "Sheik. You tell me all the time about how I'm your best friend in years and you work for Zelda and you mean the best for Hyrule and all that… but where's the proof of that?"

He looked up at me, now looking as if he was really hurt, but did I care? No. "You don't think I've noticed, but I have. Have I ever seen you without your shirt on? No. Have I ever seen any piece of skin that doesn't include your hands, or your face, or… I've never even had a proper look at you before! And is 'Sheik' even your real name!?"

He looked at the floor, shaking, mumbling something.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I continued, loudly, "Is that another excuse at not telling me anything or…"

"_Shut up_."

He stood up with difficulty, and we had a glaring match. "You think I _like_ being this? This… this puppet!? I'm not even allowed to be _human_ when I'm on duty. I'm just supposed to be a _shadow_. As long as I'm on _duty, _I'm _Nothing_. I'm not supposed to talk to anybody, to be seen eating, hell I'm not even supposed to be _seen_! I'm not even supposed to _be_ here! My orders were to give you some stupid speeches with stupid, magical songs and _disappear_."

He angrily pulled his cowl up and wiped at his face before yelling at me again. "And don't you _dare_ put me and Ganondorf together."

"Well I can't help it can I!? You don't even tell me your real name, or where you come from, or about your past…"

"My 'past' is _dead_! My family was my past, and they are _dead_. And with them died everything I believed in; everything worth recalling as my own. And you know who killed them? _Ganondorf_. Oh not personally, of course, he was having way too much trouble cursing the temples and hunting down Zelda… and hunting _me_ down too for surviving the raid at the Castle! Why do you think all the Sheikah left Hyrule!? Because they were famous for helping the royal family out, _despite_ only a couple in thousands were picked out for that job!"

"Well if you're breaking so many fricken' rules to help me out, I don't see why not you can't show me your damn _face_!"

"I have a scar, okay!? My eyes bring me enough attention as it is, what would you think a great big ugly scar will do to my cover!?"

"Does it look like I _care_?"

"You should! Because Ganondorf both knows we're at large. He's knows I'm Sheikah; he knows you have the Master Sword, he _knows_, that we're breaking through his defences bit by _bit_. We'll be hunted down like _rats_ once he gets word that we've just freed this temple!"

"But that _still_ doesn't excuse you from not telling me your _name_…"

"_I don't even know it_!"

For a complete, full second, no thought went through my head. We were both breathing like we'd just run a mile, and what was more, my throat hurt from shouting. Angry wetness blotched his cheek and he angrily knuckled his eye.

Finally I let out a, "…What?"

"I don't. know. my. name. At least, I'm not sure." He sat down again, looking immensely tired and worn out. "My parents were always on duty. One way or another. Like I said, when one's on duty… at least, for us… you're a shadow. You don't have any children, as far as the world's concerned. But the records are there, the names, the date of birth, the blood-type, the number of siblings… everything. So they called us by names that didn't belong to us. Willa and Flint… the only reason I knew _theirs_ was because Willa was of age and she told me in secret; Flint because I checked his birth records. But me… I'm not quite sure whether the name they used for me was _me_. They… they weren't work crazy, so, my maybe they bent the rules, like other parents and gave me a likeness to my original name I… I don't know. Besides, did the castle gents care whether I had a name or not? All I was a Sheikah. Sheik. Shadow."

He looked at me, mad beyond hell. "There's nothing _to_ tell about me, Link. _Nothing_."

"That's not true." I marched up to him and sat down too, counting on my fingers, "There's lots I want to know about you. You're favourite colour, number, date of the month, your patron goddess, why she pisses you off, why you like her anyway, your favourite sport, how some people really make it _not_ forth playing, your favourite place in all of Hyrule, why it rocks so hard, why… why are you laughing?"

Low weak chuckles as they were, he was still laughing. I let him, waiting for my answer. He gave a tremendously loud sniff before looking at me again, red eye swimming, tanned skin glistening. "They just seem so… trivial."

I gave a grin. "It's the smallest things that make the biggest difference."

He laughed again, his whole body shaking. "You nutcase."

"Says the guy that freaks out just because he doesn't want to be caught wearing armour."

He suddenly looked defensive and avoided my gaze. "_You_ don't wear armour, and you're the Hero of Time. I just thought it… unfair, I guess. Sorry."

"I'm sorry for yelling too. Now, come on; let's see who the sage is for this Temple."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The pains in my body eased as we entered the dark oblivion that was the Chamber of Sages, and when we finally touched down, I was able to look at the person greeting us. I wasn't happy when I saw who the Water Sage was. In fact, I was horrified. Oh why oh why did it have to be _her_…?

"Thank you Link." Ruto whispered; a small, delicate smile on her lips, "Credit goes to you for my awakening as the Water Sage. I would've expected no less from my fiancé."

Forever and ever, I will hate that damn 'F' word.

"Well, well, Link." I spun on Sheik and he was leaning on a leg, arms crossed. It was hard to tell whether he was amused or angry by his tone. "You never told me you had a fiancé? Why, you even said you never had a girlfriend."

I spun back up at Ruto, who giggled, putting her hands behind her back. Her face turned a darker shade of blue which I can only guess as a Zoran blush. "Link my love, such a modest young man . . ."

I felt hot sweat clog the neck of my collar. "Um . . . yeah . . . about . . ."

Sheik cut me off, drawling, "Well either way I congratulate you, Link. You seemed to have picked up a very nice girl. I'm jealous." There was enough sarcasm in there just for me to notice as he placed a hand onto his chest, feigning pain. "Should I go on ahead and leave you two betrotheds alone?"

"_Sheik_ . . . !"

"I'm afraid that is unnecessary, Sheik."She answered for him, a sad smile playing at her expression. We looked at her, slightly confused, and she continued, "As a sage, I have my duties. And I am afraid that these duties prevent Link and I from forever becoming together, I'm afraid."

That comment just broke all my chains to a talking fish; they were the words from heaven.

"But, my love, you cannot go unrewarded,"

I was going to get Sheik for laughing at me…

She spread her arms wide, her fins flicking. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up, breathing deeply, peacefully. Slowly, like feather-down snow, blue shimmering sparks fell from above. They showered us, encasing us, making all the pain and tiredness go away.

I couldn't help but sigh.

"You have my love, my Link. Forever and ever. And perhaps, you may find love in unexpected places, like I had done with you."

I looked up at her, for once actually comfortable to stand in her presence. "Thanks, Ruto."

She gave Sheik a fleeting glance before we fell through the darkness again, landing us on the Water Temple's symbol on the island above the entrance. I looked toward the setting sun, feeling a lot more… content. I was freed from an engagement that wasn't even supposed to happen. On top of that, I had a blessing from a near-all-powerful sage to have a love-life that was actually _worth_ having. And all wounds healed. Not to mention the Lake was refilling now. Ah, such a beautiful sunset…

That was until Sheik let all his mirth go in guffawing laughs, that is. He fell onto the floor, rolling like dog in the dirt with laughter. "You… you… fiancé… _Ruto_!"

He laughed till he was crying. Now, I would've found it worth laughing about it too, if it weren't for the last words she left me. "Sheik, shut it. She would've made a great wife if she'd been Hylian-"

He laughed louder, and his voice cracked. He cried further, too. He was shaking when he replied, "Yeah, yeah… oh Din… aheheh… how did you end up getting engaged? _When_ did you get engaged? But most importantly… _why_? I mean… she's Zora!"

"The Spiritual Stone she had just happened to be the Royal Family engagement seal, or something like that; how was I supposed to know what it meant when I was ten? I was busy getting the Master Sword, and if you hadn't noticed, my memory was wiped. There was no way I could've remembered!"

"Sure, sure… still would've made a great wife, though huh? How well did you know her?"

I rolled my eyes. "I only knew her for about a day. That's _it_."

His eye that I could see narrowed accusingly. "She seemed very eager to meet you, despite a seven year wait."

Okay, now I just couldn't comprehend why he'd ask me so many questions on it. It was over, wasn't it? I'd understand it if I was begging for his help to get out of the damn marriage, but… it was done and past. "Why are you barraging me?"

He looked away, looking very pissed off. "For a guy that accused me for keeping lots of secrets and never sharing them, you seem to have a lot behind your back too, hypocrite."

Stung. That was the best way to describe how my chest felt.

"Sheik, I'm sorry about before, I didn't mean it, I… I was just frustrated, I'm really, really sorry…"

"No need." He said, his tone sharp. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to start asking about it anyway." When he looked back at me, he nudged at his scarf a bit, as if considering whether to pull it down or not.

Please, I couldn't help but think, please, take it off so I can know you more…

He pulled it up and wiped the rest of his tears from his face and said, "I'll tell you everything, when this is all done and over with. Just… do you think you could bear with me for that while? I… need you to… I don't know. Just, please… bear with me. I promise to tell all at the end, I swear." His tone was pleading, begging. I couldn't refuse.

But I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I shrugged and said, "I guess that's the best I could've hoped for."

I suddenly noticed that despite the sun being completely under the horizon, it seemed overly bright. Together Sheik and I looked to the north, where it was burning red, with not sun but flame, screams not of birds but people, drifting to our island.


	5. Family Secrets

_**Family Secrets**_

"I…" he winced as he tried to speak, growling at the lack of free speech, "I demand to go with you."

I shook my head again, appalled at his stubborn attitude. "Oh yeah, after that thing springing out of the well and attacking you _mercilessly_ and left you with fractured _ribs_, of course I'll let you come with me! Sure! Great. Even after you deny me the obligation to heal you, of course I'll let you go. You can come and fight with me, even if you can't possibly breathe, much less run around swinging chains."

He glared at me with his red eyes. "You and I have never messed with broken ribs; I would've sent you to a _professional_ as soon as I knew this. Don't make me regret trusting you to a total stranger too, butt head. Now, about the Temple… _Watch me._"

I was alarmed when he had been able to stand on his own, but had been relieved when he crumpled back into bed in pain. Thank Furore; he wasn't a demigod.

I pushed him back into bed, which was in a house of a lady that liked taking care of people. Half of Impa's house had gone down like a sand castle under water when the fire had come around, because of the books that had situated a whole wall. Some of the roof went with it, so it was in-hospitable until it was repaired. People had gone off to refugee camps around the country to look for carpenters that were willing to lend a hand at repairing the half destroyed village.

Sheik moaned as he lay under the sheets, glaring at the fact that he couldn't move, much less fight. For once he wasn't wearing that body suit and his armour; he wore a simple Hylian shirt, and lots of bandages across his chest to support his ribs. But he refused to not wear his scarf.

"What about the red potion?" he asked me, and I shook my head. He groaned.

"Look," I said, running a hand through my hair, "Once I'd finished with the Temple, I'll buy you Red potion. Does that sound fair?"

"No, I want to feel better _now_." He complained, almost savagely. I cocked my eyebrow, since this was the first time I'd seen this side of his. "The Shadow thing attacked us four _days_ ago, I've waited long enough, don't you think?" he asked me, looking at me with a weird mixture of desperation and anger.

He was too stubborn for his own good. I was willing to bet that he'd tried to leave if someone didn't tie him to the bed.

I asked him, "What's your favourite drink?"

He blinked at me. The eye brow I could see lowered suspiciously. ". . . Why?"

I felt really, really lame. "Will you shut up if I got you your favourite drink?"

He narrowed the eye that he could see further, "You do realise that that is one of the most stupidest distractions you could've thought of?"

"At _least_, be a good Sheikah and humour me. What would you like to drink?"

"Red potion."

"Strawberry wine it is."

"Go to hell," he retorted, looking away, "And say hi to Bongo-bongo for me; I owe it one."

My brain was starting to hurt. "Would you like mint with that?" I asked instead,

He didn't say anything back.

I put it by the bedside table, and he glared at it. Before I left, I had a quick word with the potion lady, that she really needed to keep Sheik inside, and if he tried to escape, I told her that she could drug him.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

I crumpled to the ground beside the Royal Grave, my body hurting just by lying down. Maybe it would've been better if Sheik had come along. There were bruises all over my body, and all of them were a different colour probably, from the way they felt. And some of them were probably internal, adding to the pain. Were some of my bones fractured? Broken, even snapped? I was dead if one of the bones was causing the bleeding …

I felt myself dimming, tired out of my mind.

Soon later (at least I hoped it was soon) I woke up, feeling myself dragged across the ground. The person that was doing it was dragging me by a foot, and when I considered my bodily position, I decided that that just wasn't cool. The person that was dragging me didn't seem to realise I'd woken. "I'm okay."

"Like hell you are." The person snarled, making me jolt in surprise.

"Sheik!?" He looked at me with those usually-pissed-off red eyes, and saw that he was more than pissed off today. He was in a light beige shirt, three buttons or so was at his collar, two of them undone. I saw under the thin fabric his armour, and I frowned; it worked as a cast I guessed, but it would've hurt surely? He wore loose trousers and shoes that didn't give away his slender legs, his scarf and fringe was back in place.

It was only fair to say that I was slightly disappointed; he was supposed to be in bed for crying out loud!

He looked back at where he was going and continued to drag, and I was powerless to stop him. I did mention to him about his ribs, but he had said 'I'm fine.', which clearly meant he was _not_ fine and that he was having a hard time breathing and a harder time dragging me around the grave yard.

His stubbornness, his anger, and the fact that I was being dragged on ground that had dead bodies underneath were starting to creep me out.

He dropped my leg when he came up to the entrance, and he ordered me to stand. I did as I was told, and he slung my arm over his shoulder, gritting his teeth at the pain in his ribs. "You really don't care about your physical health, do you." I said to him as he helped me walk to Kakariko.

"No, and I can say the same to you." he gritted out, clearly in pain, "But frankly I don't really care since I'd had worse. I _would_ drag you all the way to Impa's house since I'm still pissed off, but risking people seeing you look as if you're dead isn't too appealing."

Did I do something to upset him? I asked this and he scoffed, saying, "You spiked my drink, remember?"

… Oops.

"Oh yeah, I noticed. I saw quite easily which herb you'd used, so I completely ignored it, tried to get outside, and what do you know; the potion lady decides to drug me too. Then people just keep backing away just because I'm Sheikah. Obviously they forget to note the fact that I _don't_ work for Ganondorf, and I'm still sixteen. Nayru's love . . . !"

He bit his lip and his knees buckled slightly, and I sighed. I was willing to bet he had just added an extra crack in his already existing fracture. I stood and winced as my internal bruises harassed me, but I searched through the bag, found what I was looking for, and gave it to him. His eye widened happily when he saw the bottle of Red potion.

But then he was confused again. "Where'd you get that?"

"Impa gave it to me; she had a message with it too."

He winced. "It's not good, is it."

I shrugged. "It was something along the lines of 'Don't do anything that you'd regret, get back to your duties, and stop hating the princess so much.'"

He 'hmm'ed and looked back at where the entrance to the Shadow temple lay, and shouted, "I know! Fine! _No way in hell_!"

I couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

He breathed in carefully and sipped the red liquid, breathing out long and deep before corking the bottle. "You want some?" he asked, and I shook my head. I told him he needed it more, and he had smiled – I could tell by the way his eye changed shape – and he said that I was such a good boy.

I smiled, enjoying the way he always changed like the wind, so unpredictable that only the goddess knew what he'd do next.

I reminded him that I was older than him, and he did a rude gesture.

After that he helped me to Impa's house, which had miraculously been fixed. "I wasn't the one who called them by the way." He muttered before helping me through the door, making me look up at five people I knew all too well.

I paled despite the bruises on my face.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"What happened to yah, kid?" Jiro asked me again, giving me the urge to snap at him to go away. I wasn't in the mood to talk about the Shadow Temple. I was going to have nightmares about it; I knew it, and at the very least, it annoyed me. I turned my head away and kept silent, refusing to answer.

I hissed as Sheik unintentionally touched tender skin, and he apologized.

Saburo leered as he deftly went for another one. "You seem on the girly side, kid. Healing's fer women, I tell ya."

I stopped the urge to snicker, glad that I knew Sheik's general past and his touchiness. If I didn't, I'd been obliged to agree, and probably the healing process after Volvagia would've happened. But then again, deep down, I knew he wouldn't do it.

"On a hot day," he said, voice neutral and cold, "You find yourself sick of some unknown disease that can be cured quite easily, and quickly. There's no civilisation around for another mile, and you don't have the strength to walk. How do you expect a woman to come all the way to heal you, when she doesn't even know that you're hurt, slowly and painfully dieing, all because you didn't know how to heal yourself?"

I snickered with my cousins, the difference in our expression of amusement that they were laughing outright. I couldn't decide which was funnier. Their ignorance – which I had shared – or Sheik's sarcastic but very true remarks?

I jumped and cursed as uncle spoke. Why did his voice have to be, so, _loud_?

"He'll be okay, yeah!?" I saw Sheik nod and go onto another acid burn, making me hiss again. Damn Bong-bongo and his stupid drum . . . !

"He must've been quite the klutz, hurting himself this bad." Shiro chuckled, putting his hand to his mouth. I felt insulted, since he _never_ would've survived a _second_ of the Shadow Temple, but I knew their kiddie ways. You piss them off; they don't do what they tell you to do. And that was fixing the house.

I glared at Sheik, noting the vein that had popped up onto his forehead, giving a mental message, saying '_no_'. He sighed, and shook his head.

"Flip," he seemed tired. Of healing me or of my cousins, I didn't really know. Probably both. "You've still got you're back."

By the way he acted, he wasn't going to push me like last time. I was glad of that, since my muscles were stiff, the burns on my chest were bad, and I had a feeling I'd scream if anybody touched me.

Pain seared across my upper back, digging into my skin and burning the muscle underneath. I forced myself not scream, although I did yell. I knew that Ichiro had been the one who'd done that. The others frankly didn't have the guts to do anything disgusting, and touching whatever my injury was, it was disgusting.

I gave a glance towards Sheik that said '_don't_'. The house was still unfinished, and only these guys could fix it up.

But he didn't want to listen. He stood and turned on my cousins, probably glaring at them full on.

"Excuse me, Ichiro, was it?" his voice was sugary and cat like, soft and purring and dripping with deadly sarcasm. "But you have just added extra pressure onto Link's _acid_ burn, which, could quite easily _contaminate_ if pressed upon by a hand which just _happens_ to have tar, and wood splinters stuck on its skin. This, if not treated right, could _kill_ him."

I didn't know that…

"As you can probably see, Mister Jiro, Link has been through a _lot_, and questions such as yours could bring up unnecessary after-shocks. Which considering the circumstances, would be quite _bad_, since Link is battered, bruised, and quite frankly, _very close to dieing_."

Yeah. Why would anyone force me to recall the horrors when I knew I was going to have nightmares?

"And you're Shiro, right? Well, I'm afraid Link wasn't being a klutz at all today, because he just had to go through a _hell hole_ full of demons, monsters, and the likes. If he _were_ being a klutz, then right now, he'd be falling through an endless hole until he died of thirst or hunger, maybe being devoured limb by limb as lunch of a door sized _spider_, or maybe, by the looks of things, slowly _disappearing_ in a pool of acid."

Damn Straight.

I heard them whimper slightly, and by my guesses they were getting Sheik's world famous glare. "You get your ignorant and inconsiderate butts out of here before I send you to where Link has been spending the last five hours in."

They were gone before I could add in that he was dead serious.

Dead. … Ha.

But still . . . "You shouldn't have done that." I managed to croak as Sheik put medicine onto my wounds, "They won't fix this house anymore."

He scoffed, the familiar feel of salve going over my skin sending a shiver up my spine, "Those guys fixed this house well enough; I can do the rest."

He had to be joking. The place would leak like a tree if _professionals_ didn't do it?

"With _you_ staying in bed until _at least_ your internal bleeding is fixed."

"But . . ." I was the only one here who knew anything about building houses!

"_No_ _buts_." He was smirking. I just knew it. "Know the pain I had to go through by waiting these last five hours in bed."

I whimpered helplessly and uncle laughed. Oh yeah. I'd forgotten he was there.

We fell into a sort of silence as Sheik went onto my few cuts, and his hands faltered over my skin. "There must have been a lot of Re-Deads done there, huh."

I shivered in reply, remembering the clammy hands, the poisonous odour, the general decay… I groaned, pushing my face into the pillow.

"I need to rant. Please listen." I begged, and he placed a gentle hand on my back as an answer. "That temple doesn't deserve to be called a temple or a sanctuary of sorts. It's a hell hole, I tell ya. Walls that fall down with spikes stuck on them, invisible Floor Masters, huge bubbles, and the big demon that beat your ribs?"

"Oh, I remember him. You send it to hell for me?" he asked kindly, soothingly. Another side of him that I hadn't noticed over the weeks.

"Yeah, but it took forever. I mostly got these from it." I pointed vaguely towards my back, where I knew there at least _some_ bruises, "It had huge hands that were more then willing to hit, punch, slap me and its weakness, of all things, was an invisible eye. And it turned bright red."

Sheik helped me up, but something stung. And by damnation it _hurt_. I was forced to lean against him. In the small contact I had a faint wisp of his hair, and it smelled of something good. He pushed away, red faced. You know, I never noticed how tanned his skin was…

I made eye contact with uncle Rol, and he didn't look too happy.

"Did ye turn gay, kid?"

Heat rushed up to my face, and I grimaced. "_No_! What makes you think that!?"

He grunted but said nothing. Maybe he was about to, but someone burst in and asked him to help out with fixing up another house, and he left, looking disgruntled. I stood up and went over to my shirt, which was draped over a chair with my tunic. I realised I was limping. Damn it.

"Am I right to assume he doesn't like queers?" Sheik asked me, and I looked back to see he was lying where I was only seconds ago, and that somehow made me smile. I didn't know how, it just . . . did.

"Yeah, he's more of a traditional kind of guy. Men be the strong, women be the meek, husbands outside while the wife stays in, teaching their sons and daughters what they respectively need to learn. I never really liked that." I didn't bother with my tunic. I put a charred kettle over the fire, and Sheik started a semi-casual conversation.

"So, Impa give you any hints on more secrets I'd been keeping?"

I smiled painfully, and he took it as a yes.

He looked forlornly at the floor, a leg swinging. He seemed to contemplate what he was going to say, and he ended up saying, "I don't lie about my family, you know."

I determinedly watched the kettle.

"Flint, Willa, Ra, Pappi… I'll never lie about them. They existed; they were my life, my soul, my everything. I don't care what my teachers say about my duties and how I have to tell lies about my background. Nobody can make me lie about them. _Never_."

The Kettle whistled. I poured the tea and gave a mug to him. He nodded thanks, refusing to meet my eyes. "You ask anything about them, and you'll be guaranteed a truth. Try it."

I did. "Where did your family live?"

He sipped the tea and continued. "They lived in a country called Berumon, northwest of Hyrule before I came here. When I was nine they agreed that I was ready for training, so I was brought to Hyrule by my aunt, who worked as the nursemaid to Princess Zelda."

Wait. Wasn't Impa Zelda's bodyguard? Wow wait . . . "_Impa's_ your _aunt_?"

He nodded, and I couldn't help but whistle. Impa had _such_ different qualities compared to Sheik, it was almost near impossible that they were _that_ closely related. He chuckled and kept talking. "I was brought to Hyrule because I had prophetic dreams about this happening since nine, although it died down when the Princess started having them when she turned twelve or something. I trained while I watched her knit and weave, I fought for my life against Hylian teachers while she danced and laughed."

His voice quivered in anger, and he seemed to realise it. He shook it off and said, "They didn't really like teaching a Sheikah."

He took another sip of tea and asked if I had any more questions. "Why do you feel uncomfortable living here?" I asked, gesturing around the place, "Impa owns this, right?"

He gave a sad chuckle. "How did you feel when you first slept under your uncle's roof?"

I quirked an eyebrow, a little confused at the question, but thought back. The room they had given me had been same in size to my old tree house, but it had been empty. Empty of forest noises, of the wind, of the magic that lived in everything in my old home. I had felt so lonely… but I toned out my answer a little bit. "Weird, I guess. Kind of creepy, since he and his family were still strangers to me. Why?"

He nodded, drinking again. "That's how I feel. Every night I sleep here, it feel's like I'm living in a total stranger's house; not my aunt's. She was always busy in the castle. Taking care of the Princess, organizing the training courses, giving advice to the King, checking up on boring documents . . . whenever I saw her, I only saw this lady who was training me only for the sake of duty. I never saw her as an aunt." His eyes drooped. He nodded thoughtfully, I think.

"She seemed like she cared about you when she gave me the red potion?"

He didn't reply. He swayed dangerously and then toppled to the side, forcing me to catch him across my chest. The mug he'd held shattered on the floor, and I heart raced as I panicked desperately over what was wrong with him, what made him do that, was it his ribs…?

I needn't have bothered. He was only sleeping; soundly, if I may add.

_Then_ I remembered I had put the jar of Berea next to the tea jar. Sheik was so going to kill me when he woke up.

He moaned into my neck and I couldn't help but feel … warm, perhaps. I remembered the conversation Impa and I had had while I had earned the Shadow medallion and the bottle of red potion from her. She seemed like she genuinely cared for Sheik, although it didn't come out too easily.

I shifted his position, and his head rolled to the base of my throat, where he continued to breathe calmly. It suddenly dawned on me that, this was my perfect chance to look at his face. He's drugged, there was no way he could sense me nudge his scarf down just that tiny bit…

I put him down on my bed and pulled the blankets over him; he moaned like kitten, making me smile.

He promised to tell me when it was all over; I'll wait.


	6. Moonlit Confessions

_**Moonlit confessions**_

"Great. This is just great." Sheik complained angrily, slamming the door shut behind him, stomping over to his cot, "We're delayed for a whole friggin' day just because your cousins didn't want to fix the bridge at the Canyon and we had to bust their butts out of cells, you got caught by the Gerudo, and _I_ had to convince them that I wasn't interested in joining them! By fighting them in a ceremonial match! That b… that _woman_, nearly decapitated me!"

I scratched the top of my head and groaned, throwing my hat to the corner of the room. I knew he was in need of a good complaining session, but did he _have_ to be that loud? "Not to mention I had to get myself away from the Gerudo after they gave me the membership card,"

"Which I didn't get. Honestly! "

"And Time Travel my way back seven years and go through half the Temple."

"Leaving me to do nothing!"

Now that complaint, in my eye, was weird. "Why are you so desperate to fight? Do you like the time we spend in the Temples?"

He looked at me sideways, cautiously. He looked away and muttered, "I think… I think we're running out of time."

I snorted. "Sheik, we've been running out of time since I pulled out the Master Sword."

He shook his head urgently, and the air around him seemed to shiver, as if… as if he were afraid. "I didn't mean it that way. It's just that… Bongo's attack… it shouldn't have happened for another a day or two. Or at least, not right after we finished with the Water Temple."

"…What do you mean?"

He understood that it wasn't a question. It was a demand.

He stepped over to his cot and sat on it, gesturing for me to do the same. But I felt frozen, so I just shook my head. He lowered his gaze and idly rubbed his arm, not once looking at me.

"I just want you to know, that despite my… personal dislike of the Princess," he started carefully, "my duty is still to her. As long as I'm bound, as long as my aunt works for her, I have to stick with her. That's why I kept this from you. And… as selfish as this sounds, I didn't want to lose you."

I met his dull tired eye full of regret as he insisted that I sat down. He said it was a long story, so I dragged a chair in front of me and sat on it, not knowing what to feel.

He took a shuddering breath and wrung his left wrist, a nervous habit he'd picked up over the weeks. "In the Prophecies, it was said that the Hero of Time would sleep seven years before cleansing the land. You know that,"

I nodded.

"Do you remember what happened _before_ you entered the Temple of Time, before you put the gems in place and the Door of Time opened?"

I thought about it. Dug through the memories, tried, tried, tried to think what happened before I got into the Castle Town again to tell Zelda I had them all.

Sheik was still looking at me. "Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"I thought so."

I scowled. With my mind I egged him on to keep going; just spit it out, Sheik. Spit it out.

He wrung his wrist a little more before continuing, "You see, it… it wasn't the Master Sword that wiped your memories. It was Zelda."

My impatience got the better of me. "Sheik, we were all _ten_ at that time. There was no way Zelda had that type of power-"

"She would now, wouldn't she."

I froze. There was something in the way he said it that made my blood go cold.

"That day, the day you pulled that sword when you were ten, Zelda fled from the Castle; Ganondorf right behind you. She left you her Ocarina, with a message of instructions for you so you could complete your quest and get the Master Sword. But things don't go as planned."

He fiddled with his scarf. My mind egged him on to continue, even though the last thing I wanted to do was hear the end of the story. "You went, you got the Master Sword, and as you put it, great big whoosh. Hero trapped in Seven year slumber."

"But-"

"Ganondorf was right behind you."

"That still doesn't make sense!" I was standing now, outright arguing. I didn't enjoy the calm manner that he was telling me this. Shouldn't he be looking guilty, at least? "I've _lived_ my seven years! I worked for my uncle, I lived here, I moved to the refugee camp, I looked after a stray cat, I ran away to the Castle Town, I got caught and then got a massive hiding for it I… it doesn't make sense." I finished, rather lamely.

He nodded. Looked away. "This was in _this_ time line. I'm talking about the one that got reversed."

Huh…?

"In this one, he started taking over perhaps four years ago, when Lake Hylia started losing its waters. He publicly took over two years after that, when he attacked the castle. But in the other, he took over the very day you took the Master Sword. You were too young to fight; way too young. That's why you were trapped in the Sacred Realm for so long. And with you, the Master Sword got trapped, leaving an open gateway for Ganondorf to waltz through to claim the Triforce for himself."

I felt myself pale. This story had to be nightmare. It couldn't be true.

"Last time, it took him a year to get out with the Triforce. Another year to put the Castle completely and utterly under his control. And in the next year he destroyed every single town in the country large enough to maintain a threat. The he spent the rest of his time cursing the temples, looking for you everywhere, hunting you down. Along the way, with every Temple cursed, he made sure the races were brought to its knees. The Sheikah were massacred first; no need to worry about them, but you saw the rest; forest infested with monsters, Gorons taken as bait for Volvagia, the Zora's domain frozen. Bongo-bongo's seal finally dwindled to nothing, and the desert was turned to a party house for witches."

He gave me a look of grave respect, something he'd never done before. "And you defeated them all. All on your own."

"What . . .?"

"I don't know exactly what happened next, but I think you were returned to your normal time, before you slept for seven years. But not just you. I think Time itself backtracked, and nobody remembered what happened. Including you, the Princess, all the sages . . . except me. And, by what I heard from you, your friend Navi as well."

He wrung his wrist tighter; I wouldn't be surprised if he was bruising himself. He voice shook. "I remembered it all. You and your fairy coming out of each temple, battered and bruised, so near death . . . and I wasn't even allowed to _help_.

"In . . . in this time line, I kept having nightmares about it. My family found it strange, so they called Impa. She then decided that they were prophetic; that's why she brought me to Hyrule and train me as her bodyguard. What better boy is there to help the Princess when the guard knew of the upcoming dangers?"

His bitter tone was stabbing. "It died down when I was eleven? Twelve? Either way the Princess picked it up, and she began to remember. _And she didn't do anything about it_ . . . !"

Now _that_, sparked something in me.

Sheik took another breath and shook his head for some reason, and continued. "But that's not what that matters. I . . . I felt bad, at not helping you last time. I had some amount of respect for Zelda back then, and I was willing to do as I was told for her. So, to put it in a dekushell…"

"This is the second time around; you've been forced to go through the same hell twice."

_The same hell twice . . . _

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

I sat on the roof of the house, wondering for a second how I'd gotten there. I also wondered how long I'd stayed there too, since it had passed sunset and the stars were shining brightly; the moon resting high in the dark sky.

I sighed dejectedly as I buried my face in my hands, wishing the moon above me would fall and crush me. It definitely was high enough to cause enough damage, I'll be off to heaven before I even realised what happened.

Nobody cared about 'Link', I realised, hot anger burning the back of my throat. All they cared about was the Hero of Time, saving their damn lives for them while they don't even try to protect themselves. Just whinge and whine until someone came along to do their own saving for them. It was the safest way, it was the _best_ way. Just let one little guy have all the trauma, even though the only thing he should really be worrying about is whether he's having a crush on his best friend or not. Yeah… that's a good idea. Nodody cared. Nobody.

Except… someone _had_ cared, and I'd just had a nasty go at him.

I threw myself onto the tiles of the roof, wishing I could sleep and not wake up till time ended. People wished on stars, didn't they? If I wished on them, would they let me sleep for as long as I wanted? It was a nice thought . . . but I knew it was useless, wishing for something that just wouldn't happen. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the two red stars that kept grabbing my attention. Damn the colour red . . .

I sighed, thinking over the reaction that I'd given Sheik. Maybe I'd gone over the top, but how could I _not_ be mad after finding out that I was used as pawn for the second time? How could I not be mad after finding out that there had been a way of stopping Ganondorf's madness before I had to step into the picture? It was so unfair! I had a life as well as anybody else, and I really didn't want to end up wasting it on killing monsters and demons and a madman. And doing it for the second time, too!

I'd yelled at him about that, and he had taken it silently. I'd said to him stuff that I couldn't really remember, and frankly didn't want to remember. I was sure as hell that they'd been bad, real bad, adding more hurt to the general conversation. Then I'd said that I'd had enough of this, and stormed out.

I regretted it.

Sheik had nothing to do with this. He had been the one that had cared enough to try and help, cared enough to be honest about it when I'd asked. Well, not exactly asked, but when I pushed hard enough he said them outright, although it took him ages. I sighed again as I opened my eyes, looking at the twin red stars I'd seen only seconds ago. The ones I couldn't keep my eyes off of.

Even though Hyrule and its destiny were unfair on me, I had no right to be unfair on him. And before I'd stormed out, he'd tried to tell me something more, but I'd shouted at him to go away; I didn't want to listen anymore. I felt really bad, not listening to him, because I realised that it would've hurt to know that I was going to be angry when he told me about the truth, but he still told me. That was something I had to admire in him, no matter how upset I was.

I sat up blearily, rubbing at my eyes, intending to return to Impa's so I could apologize to him. I stood and looked over the peaceful village, noting a wondering shadow and saw that I really didn't need to. In minutes Sheik was coming up onto the roof as well, leaping from one roof top to another, looking for me. When he caught sight of me, he looked like he didn't want to come, but he was stubborn (not to mention kind) – sometimes too much for his own good – resulting in his decision to meet me.

He deftly leapt on, searching my gaze nervously. "I . . . I brought you this." he said to me, bringing forth a bundle of cloth, "I thought you'd need it, given the temperature tonight." he explained, placing it in my hands.

I regretted yelling at him even more.

"I'm sorry."

It was at least a second before I'd realised we'd said it at the same time.

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked him helplessly, guilt settling in the pits of my stomach like fist sized rocks, "I was the one that yelled at you, hurt you, did horrible things to you, and _you're_ the one that should apologize? I don't get it. You even brought me this. I . . . I . . ."

He looked at me a second and turned away. "You had the right to be angry. And I didn't have the right to keep it from you this long. It was selfish of me to have kept it from you, and I'm sorry for it. I only kept it from you because I didn't want you to hate me. And it was wrong of me to do that."

"No it wasn't."

He seemed oddly shocked that I had grabbed his shoulder, but I let it slide. "I overreacted when you told me. I was in the wrong for yelling at you. I'm the one that should be apologizing."

Now he looked plainly lost. "But . . ."

"And _don't_ give me anymore reasons why it was my right to be angry at you, or anything else. Even if it was you who kept it from me, it was you who had to bear the secret and it was you who told me. And I'm grateful for that."

He lowered her eyes again, and I brought it back up by hitting him squarely on the forehead. "You're not the only one who's been hiding secrets, Sheik."

He grumbled irritably, rubbing the sore spot.

"C'mon." I said to him, grabbing his elbow firmly, "Want to star gaze with me? It's much easier now with Death Mountain cleared up and the Shadow Temple freed. I don't know any of the constellations, and I was hoping someone would teach me. You know them, don't you?"

I pulled him down to the roof without getting and answer, and I wrapped the cloak around us both. He grumbled a little more about the close contact so I hugged him to spite him.

I think he was blushing like mad, the poor sod.

For a whole hour he taught me the constellations, their names, the legends behind them, and what kind of luck you'd have if you were born under those stars. I was surprised when he had recited the legends. He knew them like his own knives, and he told them in intricate detail, mesmerizing me with the stories, their meanings, and his voice. I never noticed it, but when he was relaxed, it was soft… musical. Low and beautiful.

As time ticked on I was more aware of his body pressing against mine, his warmth soothing me as he told the tales.

He paused. Gave me a side-long glance. "You okay Link?"

"Um . . . uh . . . what?"

"You were zoning out."

"No…" no way in hell was I telling him that I was thinking about his tan. "I was just wondering . . . um, what those stars meant." I pointed out the two red ones I had my attention on before he came, and he gave a grunt.

"I'm surprised you don't know those two. They're Din's Eyes."

I cocked an eyebrow. "But wasn't the sun Din's eye?"

He shrugged. "Of the day yeah, but as the patron goddess of this country like Furore and Nayru, she has to watch over the land without stop. Like, the moon's Nayru's eye of the night, and . . . see that star there?" he pointed idly towards a blue one, an ocean pearl sitting on navy velvet, very close to the Kakariko watch tower. "That's Nayru's tear. It's said that she cried because thieves and villains always do their wrongdoings in the night. She cries for their loss of good judgement and wisdom."

I smiled, my arm almost automatically going around his shoulders. "How do you know all this anyway?"

He replied in a grunt, "My teachers didn't expect me to become a brainless fighting machine."

I chuckled at what I supposed was his modesty, letting it slide. As he told more stories about the stars, I couldn't help but get a little bored.

I suddenly couldn't help but wish that Sheik was something more than he was. All he was made of was secrets. Did I know anything about him, aside from a few small background info on his family? I had nothing on him. Nothing. I know he'll tell me when everything was over. I'll know every tiny thing about him so well that he'd might as well be my shadow. But I can't help thinking what if… what if he can't make it out of the next temple? What if he falls and never gets up again? I'd lose a friend without knowing him. Without enjoying my time with him, the way we want to.

It was unfair. So unfair…

"Link?"

"Hm?"

"I … well… now that you know about the whole, Time Twister effect thing… I thought I might fess up on other stuff I've been keeping from you." he shifted uncomfortably, concentrating on a frayed hole in the cloak. "There're two things I _have_ to tell you. I… ugh, Din, I hate being the Secret Keeper."

I patted his arm sympathetically. "S'all good, mate. So, what's the last two pieces of info that's labelled 'Don't tell Link'?"

He scratched his eyebrow and muttered, "One concerns the Triforce. One… concerns, well… me."

My attention shot to its peak, and my back went rigid. "You?" He nodded. "Well?"

He looked at me, looked away, then shifted uncomfortably again. "I… I was going to tell you right before the Gerudo Fortress, but I didn't know whether if the encounter would be made easier or harder… and… meeting your uncle and having to save your cousins, I … chickened out."

I waited impatiently, heart thudding.

"I should've told you this at the Water Temple, or even from the beginning. I thought it might get in the way and… look, I'm sorry I hid it from you, okay? Really, I am."

"Okay, okay, just _tell_ me." I strained, ready to shake him by the shoulders.

He sighed. My excitement mounted when he shrugged off the cloak and moved to remove his cowl. "The thing is, I-"

He yelled and fell to the side, his body convulsing in pain. The bloodied arrowhead winked maliciously in the moonlight, as Sheik snapped it and pulled it out of his shoulder. "What th-"

I grabbed him and jumped—he was lot lighter than I thought he would be—landing on the ground below and stumbled from the shock. I looked up and saw three, five, maybe even six more large figures jump down, landing with large thuds that shook the whole lawn. Stalfos.

I unsheathed the Master Sword and stood in front of Sheik, glad beyond thought that I'd picked up the habit of taking the damn sword everywhere.

"I'm fighting too…"

"You don't have your chain. You stay down."

He stood up regardless, metal links clinking, an elaborate axe dropping to the ground. "Says you. On three. One… two…"

As I brought my first one to its demise, I realised that we were cornered. We were being pushed towards the corner where the house and cliff met, and in there, two Stalfos were waiting like open traps. Sheik was taking two on at the same time, and three were coming my way to stop me from helping him. "_Sheik_!"

"Link! They want you! Get out of here while you can!"

"What about-"

"They want me alive! They want _you_ dead! Get to the Spirit Temple _now_! I'll catch up, you know me!?"

There was a horrible thud and something fell to the grass; a roar of triumph from one of the skeletons. Red filled the night as I madly slashed down my fourth Stalfos with an angry cry. I rushed for one that held him over its shoulder, sword up for the fatal blow.

Pain. Terrible blinding pain ripped through my back, tearing muscle and scraping bone, warmth leaving me rivers, the night growing colder and colder and colder…


	7. Sickening Feelings

**_Sickening feelings _**

I woke up as if I'd just come out of a nightmare, sweating heavily, gasping for breath, and hurting all over. There were several bandages on my body, and the one that hurt most was the one that supported my back; it throbbed madly and it felt damp with warm blood, and I was sure my spine had some fractures in it. Once I noted them down and got rid of the dizziness in my head, I lifted myself up. I found myself being pushed down, and relief enveloped me. I only knew one person that would dare do that to a patient and that was . . .

"Wat, by the holy godissis, ar tha' doin'?"

… Definitely not Sheik. If that voice was Sheik, it would've still been in a nightmare, since the events last night just couldn't have happened. Stalfos coming onto someone's house? Taking hostage? It was near impossible! And since when did those damn skeletons use stealth!?

I opened my eyes to find myself in a dark room, with weird fires lit on the corners of the room. Now, why did I suddenly feel like a sacrifice for some horrid ritual? Where was I anyway? Why was I here? How was I brought here? And . . . Where was Sheik?

But I knew that was a question I wouldn't be able to answer on my own, so I went for the more close-at-hand question. "Who are you?" I asked the person that healed me, noting that the person was bringing over a stool to stand on. When the person did so, I just barely stopped myself from cringing. "Oh. Right. Potion lady. Hi."

She grunted and sniffed, handing me a pile of powdered medicine in a folded piece of paper. "Swallow." She croaked in a freaky voice, making me almost cringe again. I did as I was told and I gagged. "Yar house was attarcked last noight. The whole plarce was tarned upsoid down. You war hurt baddley, so tha' pepple brought ya hear."

"What . . . what about Sheik? The person that was staying with me?"

She shrugged. "Tarken."

I was out the door before she knew it.

But as soon as I was out and taken a couple of steps my back screamed hellishly and I was forced to stop running. I was glad now that I hadn't really bothered to get changed last night, since Sheik and I had been up so late, and we hadn't even go the chance to return to bed. So there was a positive light as I staggered on, covered in cuts, all of them staining my newly acquired bandages, one hand holding my head, other trailing walls of houses and fences so I don't lose my footing and trip.

I wasn't doing all that in a night outfit.

Alright, I'll admit it. The bodily situation I was in wasn't cool. But I didn't care. Saving Sheik was far more important than my injuries.

I leaned onto the wall that lead up to Impa's house's back wall, just beside the cucco pen. I heaved, once, twice, took a deep breath, and turned the corner.

I hit someone squarely in the chest, making my head ache, stomach sick, and legs shaky. I fell onto my butt and back, fresh burning pain striking my spine. The person I'd hit grunted disdainfully as I held my head, but when he jerked down his face to see mine, and it was too familiar for my liking. "Kid!"

"Uncle Rol . . . ? What're you doing here?"

He grunted disdainfully and crossed his arms while I helped myself up to my feet. Damn it, if only I could get rid of the swaying! "Came to fix up the rest of yer house. The buggers wouldn't come near ya because of the friend of yours! Bah!"

I felt sick, and sweat was covering my forehead. "Yeah, great. Whatever. Look I have to go. Sheik's been kidnapped, I have to get . . ."

"Oh I heard about him being napped! Yeah! You don't worry 'bout 'im ye hear!? He'll be able to save himself!"

"Not if he's been caught by Ganondorf's men, he can't." I growled, trying to step around him, but he had my shoulder, making me want to yell. There was a cut an inch deep there! Can't you see the blood!? He scowled down at me as I glared back, trying to convey the message that I was in a hurry, and I didn't have time for good talk. I had to save Sheik, damn it!

"I don't think he's much of a good influence on ya if you're going gay because of him. I won't be allowing that."

Alright, I'd officially decided, that he was wasting my time. I slapped his hand away and growled, looking at him dead in the eyes. "Sheik needs me! He may be able to fight, but he won't be doing well against the whole Dark army! And if you haven't noticed, I don't give a damn about your opinion!"

I left him angrily, stomping up the stairs that led to Impa's hut and slamming the door shut. The dizziness and pain took hold of me again, and I was forced to lean against the plank of wood I had just slammed shut, remembering the events of last night.

I sat there, mortified that I hadn't been able to help him.

"Sheik, you better be alive." I whispered, burying my head in my arms. I looked up at the cabinet that held the red potion, and I snarled. I couldn't get at Ganondorf at the stage I was in. Like Sheik told me to do, I had to finish the Spirit Temple before I could even think of getting into Ganondorf's castle. I went to the cabinet and drank the rest of the Red potion, gritting my teeth as my skin forcefully knitted together a bit. I checked myself in the mirror; not good enough.

I changed into a new tunic and grabbed my sword, shield, sheath, and the rest of my equipment, running out the door head long. I raced towards the graveyard, where I knew somewhere there would be a Fairy Fountain.

I'll grab the horse Sheik bought off Malon, then straight for the Canyon for me; I won't wait for breaks in the next temple; no way in hell.

"You had better be alive, Sheik."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Hey! Old wrinkly! I'm talking to you!"

Koume and Kotake looked at the red ball of light, which whizzed around their sights insanely. "'Old wrinkly'!? Who're you calling 'Old Wrinkly'!?" Koume shrieked, indignant beyond measure.

The fairy bobbed in mid-air and said, "She did! I heard say so last Tuesday!"

"Kotake! Why you…!"

A blast of magic sent her sister flying, and the witches began a civil war with each other. Satisfied by the chaos, the fairy whizzed back down to where the Hero of Time (me) stood, gasping and leaning on his knees, looking utterly confused.

"Hey," the fairy said, bobbing, "You're doing things all wrong. You're not supposed to use your arrows."

My patience snapped. "'How do you expect me to shoot at those bloody hags without my arrows!? Their too far away to hack down, and if you haven't noticed, my right knee cap is frozen!"

She seemed to look at the frosted knee and didn't seem impressed. "You're overreacting. Now, see that?"

I looked up at the witches, and found them screeching at each other, blasting magic at one another randomly. "So?"

"Their magic hurts one another; you have to reflect their magic with the Mirror Shield to the other witch. You get what I'm saying?"

I nodded reluctantly. "But this room is dark; I don't think I'll be able to hit them…"

"Now that's where I come in. I'll go pretend to be on their side, now."

She flew up and stuck to the one flashing the ice, and soon enough the hag fired my way.

"Shit!" I didn't trust my new shield as much as my old one, but it was definitely effective. I watched the pink bob go somewhere else, where the other was circling me. Come on, come on, please… there.

It's amazing what just a small tilt of a mirror can do.

Soon enough, after a grotesque transformation and same serious slicing (I didn't know witches had green blood…) they had halos on top of their heads and they were ascending up to heaven, arguing about their age till they disappeared. Despite they had taken me the shortest time to get rid of, I still wasn't happy.

There was a silent pause which the fairy punctuated with a "… That's definitely unfair."

I nodded mutely, disbelieving. "I gotta agree with you, whoever you are." I gave the fairy a side-long glance, asking, "Why did they think you were on…?"

I didn't have to ask. The shade of the fairy was more of a darker pink, and its wings looked like a mockery of cobwebs, made by crystallized blood. Plainly, it looked a lot more evil than good.

It noticed my gaze and said, "Stop staring. My name's Ammy by the way."

"Why'd you help me?"

"I know Sheik. Now, let's see what goes from there," she continued, bobbing to the portal that led to the Chamber of Sages.

I was definitely not going to let that thing out of my sight. I pinched its wings ('Hey!') and stepped into the portal, swiftly sinking into blackness.

As I suspected, Nabooru saluted offhandedly to me, raising an eyebrow at the fairy. "Nice friend there kid."

"Can you please make him let go of me?"

Nabooru ignored it. "Thanks kid, you got me off those witches, woke me as a sage, saved my temple, and now you can go beat Ganondorf! If it weren't for the state I'm in, I'd fight with ya, but…" she shrugged disappointedly. "Shame, really."

"Yeah, yeah, can I go now?" I ask impatiently, "'Cause I want to go get my friend from the said Evil King."

Nabooru raised a cool eyebrow. "Touchy. And here I was, thinking I'd take you to the Temple of Time…"

"Nabooru please!"

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses; you'll be there in a second. Oh, and I think someone's waiting for you there."

I wasn't given the time to ask who; I was already tapping the symbol of Light with my boots, and in the Temple of Time. Ammy squirmed in my fingers restlessly.

I dropped her. The sword clattered from my hand. Relief and joy made my knees buckle.

Sheik.

He was standing there, putting his weight more on one leg, aloof and perfectly healthy. He was watching me from the altar, standing proudly with his arms crossed. He was alive. He was okay.

"Sheik!"

"Hello Link, I-"

I ambushed him into a hug, shutting him up. "Thank Furore, you're okay! You're okay… what happened? How'd you escape? You aren't hurt too bad are you? What… why…"

I was holding him at arms length, and checking him over, my joy, my relief, slowly dissipating. He seemed… wrong. It had to be my imagination, but he seemed a precious inch taller, his shoulders were narrower, and … there was no sign of fight. Why weren't his clothes even slightly muffed? Where was the blood, the bruises, the wincing from pain? Why did he seem so shocked about me hugging him?

I stepped back; I cursed at myself from leaving the Master Sword behind. "Who are you?"

He seemed lost; that gave me initiative. "Who are you?"

"Not Sheik," said Ammy, fluttering by my ear, "Just a certain someone in disguise. You know her. Well, you don't _know_ her, I guess, but I think you've heard of her. Several times."

The contempt in her tone made me really wonder whether I should be trusting this fairy, but that was a big enough clue to get an idea on who was impersonating my friend.

The said person pulled down the mask, rubbing at whatever was smudged around the uncovered eye to give the tanned look, pulling the blankets free from the hair to let it tumble below her shoulder blades. A flash of light and the eye changed colour, from a blood-red to a piercing crystal blue.

"Hello Link."

I nodded back. "Zelda."

Ammy gave a frustrated shriek, her glow flashing a blood-thirsty red. "_That's_ the answer you give her!? _That's_ what you say!? Link, she was the one that could've prevented these months of fighting, and killing and dieing…! Ganondorf wouldn't be back and kicking if it weren't for her!" Ammy's wings bristled with bloody fangs and claws, and they ripped my hand as I held her back from attacking. "Let me at her! Lemme ater!"

Ammy's hysterical screams brought Zelda's chin touching her chest. A drop of water fell from her face and splashed the dusty stone floor. Her shoulders shook.

"I understand that seeing me was perhaps the last thing you ever wanted to do, but please…" she lifted her gaze to mine, her eyes wet, "There is much to explain, and so little time."

I nodded. "Bring it on."

"_Vwat_!?"

I caged the rabid fairy in my hands, and finally she stopped struggling.

Zelda took a deep breath. "First, you must take this." she touched my left hand, and for a second it glowed, a spell rushing through my head. "That is the spell needed to create a Light arrow. Ganondorf has immersed himself in so much evil and dark magic that the Master Sword may have a struggle in defeating him. The Light arrow will weaken him, and strengthen your blow."

I nodded again. I have to say, it'd be useful.

"And you must realise, Link," Zelda continued, offering me her right hand, "Ganondorf does not have the whole Triforce."

"…Huh?"

"There is a Sheikah legend, passed down to me from my nursemaid Impa, regarding the Triforce."

Something clicked in my head. Was this the story Sheik was going to tell me?

"'When one of pure heart, balanced in spirit touches the Triforce, the world will be at peace and prosperity. When one of tainted soul and unsteady heart touches the Triforce, the world will be at war and poverty, and the great power will rend in three'." Zelda recited, a far away look in her eyes, "It means that when Ganondorf touched the Triforce, the Sheikah legend came true. The Triforce ripped in three, leaving Ganon only with power. The Triforce of Courage, the gift of Furore, went with you, Link."

My left hand throbbed. I yelled as it hit me pain, making me release Ammy. I stared it the back of my hand in horror as well as awe, unable to believe it. A Triforce mark burned my gauntlet, as Ammy gave a whoop of delight.

I couldn't really say I felt the same, mind you.

"And Nayru's gift, the Triforce of Wisdom," Zelda flashed golden light. I jumped back and shielded my face, eyes watering. "Was handed to me."

I looked up. Zelda had transformed her clothing, and looked every bit a gorgeous Princess. Okay… please tell me if I'm going into shock. This is too much information all at once, people! And has anyone noticed that none of the information I'm getting is relatively important?

"Okay… okay. I get that now. But tell me one thing; if you're so wise, maybe you can tell me where the hell Sheik is."

She blinked and shook her head. "I cannot answer that; I don't know where Sheik is, because she left my side two, maybe even three years ago. There has been no contact between us for a long, long, time. I've been worried for you, Link. How did you manage without Sheik's help?"

I blinked. Blinked again. "You've had no contact with Sheik." She nodded. "For twothree years." she nodded again. "You don't know where he is." She blinked, looking dazed. Then I snapped. "You don't know where Sheik is!? Are you telling me I've been wasting my time talking to you when I could've gone to save him already!? That's… just… _great_."

I threw my arms up and turned. I stomped off to leave, "_Wait_!"

"What is it _now_, Princess!?" I snapped, whirling round to glare at her.

"Did you just call Sheik h-"

A blue crystal suddenly swallowed her, and she was hurled onto her back, wincing in pain. Laughter that sounded like thunder and lightening clashing rolled through the temple, making dust fly off the walls, some of the glass above shattered.

"_If you wish to see the Princess and your beloved Sheikah, brat,_ _come to my castle. I'll be delighted to see you bleeding on my floors!_"

"Where's Sheik you bastard!" I screamed, as the crystal floated away, as the laughter grew louder and louder and crushed me to the temple floor.


	8. Torturous Ends

_**Torturous Ends**_

I slammed the door open, Ammy following closely.

I ended up in an elaborate room, the walls filled with windows, the whole place washed in light. Was this the only place in the whole castle that had any sunlight in it? Because it sure as hell felt like it. I looked up into the air to see Zelda floating in her crystal cage, looking very frightened and defenceless. I ignored her. She'd known this was going to happen, and she'd done nothing about it. If I could help it, I was going to ignore her at all costs.

Ganondorf was playing the organ, but that was until he noticed me. He swirled in his chair and looked at me, grinning. He wore plated black armour, studded with silver. There were two swords at his belt, one for show and one for fighting. I unsheathed the Master Sword, growling like some hound from hell. He chuckled and examined _my_ attire, and he probably thought it was one of the most worthless things he'd ever seen.

"Well," he drawled, leaning on his knees, "Even if I remembered, I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me. A seventeen year old in a shabby old tunic, hardly any muscle and clearly an amateur, going against _me_. Me, the supreme King of Hyrule and of both its good and its evil, Ruler of all races, the holder of the Triforce of Power, and the one that will hold the whole Triforce soon enough." he laughed as I goggled, then snarled towards the Princess.

"_He remembers_!? I didn't remember, you didn't remember, but _he_ remembered? You've got to be kidding me!" the Princess took a step back in her blue cage, confused as to why I'd known that it was my second time in doing this. I growled and put my gaze at the laughing man, the grip on my weapon tightening, readying myself.

"I don't care who or what you are. Where's Sheik." I spat, stepping closer, "You better not have-"

He laughed harder, his demonic cackles spreading through the room and bouncing back like an unstoppable boulder. He looked at me with mirth, a crazy kind of amusement drowning his yellow orbs. A small shiver went down my spine, and I gulped in air, my muscles tense. He stood and stepped away from his thrown. For the first time, I noticed Sheik's chain draped over the chair.

Pure, blind hatred coursed through my veins.

"Sheik. That was her name, was it? No wonder she had a different air to the Princess; why, she was a different person all together!"

He watched me as I hesitated. His eyes widened maliciously as I faltered over his words. "She…?"

His eyes widened further. He burst out laughing, madly and loudly. I decided that fear wasn't an option here, even if his manic laughter was definitely going to give me nightmares; he was only toying with me. That was all.

"Oh… oh this is fantastic!" Ganon laughed a little more before calming down. Well, as calm as a demonic moron could go, I guess. "Do not tell me that the Hero of Time blindly followed the guidance of a total stranger! You foolish, foolish boy, did it not ever occur to you that she may have been my servant?"

Rage. Finally I can see why people favoured that emotion when fighting. "Don't you _dare_ insult him with that kind of crap! Where the hell is he!?"

He chuckled, "Your Sheikah is safe in Death, Hero."

Time froze as the word echoed in my ears, going away at an excruciatingly long pace. For a second I didn't understand what he just said. Even though I had close brushes with it plenty of times, the word had never really existed in my mental vocabulary list.

Dead . . . ? Sheik's eyes, his gruff words, his sarcastic jokes… they're… gone?

The piece of bull frightened me to no end.

"No!" I yelled, trying to banish his images away from my head. But his red eye kept peering at me, I saw his hair that escaped his turban, his deft hands as he ground down herbs, that damned blush he always got when I poked at his issue with covering his skin... Ugh! Stop remembering him as if he was really gone, damn it! He wasn't gone, he couldn't be gone! He's stronger than that; _far_ stronger than that!

I glared at the King of Evil, hating him more and more.

"You're lying!"

He had to be. If he wasn't . . . _don't think about it! He was lying!_

He shrugged with a smirk and waved his hand, a pool of darkness forming in front of him. Something came out of it in a synchronized motion to his hand, as if he were throwing whatever that was coming out of the hole at my feet. The black pool in midair disappeared as soon as the object landed on the marble floors with a sickening thud of bone against stone. It rolled for a second before stopping at my feet, lying limply like a broken puppet. The bandages in his hair, the armour that had encased his body, the scarf that had always hidden his face had disappeared. But there was no mistaking who it was.

"_Sheik_!" I quickly dropped my sword and I was kneeling next to him, turning him over so that he was facing me.

Relief and horror flooded through me, fighting to dominate. The person had marks from physical and magical torture, making me sick, but... I couldn't help my relief. Together they mixed into anger, and I looked at Ganondorf and said, "This isn't Sheik, Ganondorf; this girl's got nothing to do with this."

He raised his eyebrows amusedly. "Tell me, Hero, just _how_ much did you know of this Sheik, hm?"

Again, I faltered. This soft jawed girl, with the same tan as him, the same clothes, the same height, the same feel… this was Sheik? It couldn't be. Must be a mistake. He'd escaped and… and must've put a servant in his place; swapped clothes, something like that, right? He'll… he'll be here in a minute, demanding his chain back, telling me to drop that traitor and come kick some butt… It couldn't be him; couldn't be Sheik, it-

_I was going to tell you… Gerudo fortress… Water Temple… since the beginning… the armour… my physique, per se… I like being covered, thanks…don't you dare look at my face_...

I'd been a fool. Such a stupid, idiotic, _oblivious _fool.

Tears leaked from my eyes and into her hair, which was much longer than I ever imagined, smeared with slimy grime. Her wrists were ripped messily, crusted with dirt and pus, her whole body felt soft with bruises, and there was a long cut down her side, still oozing blood. She was pale, so much so that it was deathly, and I choked on my tears, hoping to the deities that existed that this wasn't happening.

"Sheik…?"

I saw her eyes. All I could see was the white; her red irises were gone, though her black pupils remained. Her chin was crusted with blood trailing down from her mouth, a giant blue-black bruise covering the whole side of her face that she had never allowed me to look at. Understandably, there was no scar.

Her skin was cold and absolutely still against mine.

In the background of it all Ganondorf laughed. I gently laid what was left of my friend down and picked up my sword.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Damn it.

I choked again, pain throbbing against my head as blood trailed down the side of my face. There was some blood on his body as well, due to the Light arrows and some sword blows I had been able to inflict on him while we'd been fighting. I'd bashed him with my shield sometimes, and he probably had several bruises to pay for it. But I was willing to bet that the most hurting of us was me and my neck, which was slowly getting squeezed under Ganondorf's vice like grip.

"How does it feel to be so near death, Hero?" he asked, his grip around my neck stiffening. I growled and gasped for breath, trying my best to free myself off of him. He snarled at my glare and pushed down on my throat, making his grip tighter; the Master Sword fell from my grip.

Great. Just... _great_.

I watched his face twist in anticipation and hate, an almost relieved note in his eyes. "Last time, I was defeated. Last time, I made a mistake. This time, it will not happen." His grip on my neck tightened even more, and I closed my eyes with the pain. But it abruptly subsided, and I fell to the ground, gasping and frankly shocked that I was still alive. I didn't know what the hell was going on but I grabbed the sword and stabbed up, hoping for the best.

As if guided by a hand not belonging to me the Master Sword went through his heart. He went limp, and then floated into the air, his body flaccid and dead. But somehow it crackled as if lightening was rushing through him, and when he was done, the windows were shattered to oblivion. He dropped to the ground as a corpse, laying there to rot for all I cared.

I heaved for a second before standing up shakily, wondering what had stopped Ganondorf from killing me. I looked at where he had stood, and saw Sheik's chain. Its' blades were bloodied.

What . . . ? How did it get there!?

I picked it up and felt it. It was warm and smooth, useless in the wrong hands, but dangerous. There was a beautiful axe like thing on the end, light but strong, an array of smooth blades that looked like claws. It almost looked like a decoration if I hadn't known of the menace the weapon at the end held.

The castle shuddered and threatened to collapse. I sheathed my sword and turned; I was met by Sheik's corpse.

For a fleeting, heartbreaking second I thought I might leave him… no, _her_ behind. He'd… she'd… whatever he was, he'd lied to me. Why should I care what happened to his body? He was dead; dead and long gone. .

I hated myself as I grabbed at Sheik's body, ordering Zelda to lead the way. I followed her with my load, Ammy who had helped me with targeting and given me advice through the fight, whispering in my ear.

"Sheik's not dead yet. She's die_ing_, but she's still alive. When this is all over, she'll wake up, and everything's going to be all right, you hear me?"

I wished I could believe her; I wished I could've been stupid enough to fall for the fairy's words. But it was hard to believe, since Sheik had lost her bodily warmth, and her eyes that had lost her soul . . .

Tears fell as I ran after Zelda, who opened doors with her magic as we bombarded through them. Rocks fell, big chucks of them, and I dodged them as much as I could, although they hit me several times. Maybe it was because I dodged them so they didn't hit Sheik, although I knew she was dead. I knew it didn't make any difference to her, but I wouldn't dare hurt her anymore. Dead or no, guy or not I still…

We entered a room and Zelda gasped as she was trapped in a ring of fire, and two Stalfos fell from the ceiling.

"You've got to be joking . . ." I moaned as they advanced, their skeletal jaws tilted up in forever gruesome grinning masks.

I dodged the swings of their swords, catching their blades with my sheild still strapped to my back if I was caught without room to dodge. Time was running out, time was running out, time was running out, damn it!

"The Chain!" Ammy yelled, bombarding herself into one of the Stalfos' face, making it stagger back in confusion and surprise. I didn't know what to do with Sheik's weapon, but I already had it in my hand; I swung it with all my might and the chain caught onto the Stalfos' neck. It leered when my attack was rendered useless, ignoring the chain that was rapping around its bony neck thanks to momentum. Wait a second . . .

I pulled when it stopped and the neck snapped and the skull of the monster fell, crushed under my boot. I swung the chain in a backwards arch towards the other one, and the axe-like mallet hit the thing in its ribs, tearing it to a pile of bones, where they turned into coloured fire. At the same time the flames that had trapped the Princess left. Zelda thanked me when she was freed, and I just snarled and threw her a blue crystal with a spell of Nayru's love in its depths.

"Next time, you just walk out of that kind of thing, kapeesh?"

She nodded warily, quickly, and carried on. More chunks of the building were falling down on us, and more of them were bigger than before. They fell like rain but somehow we managed to get out mostly unharmed.

We watched the dark castle fall, the place turning to ruins in seconds before our eyes.

I should be glad. I know I should. The quest was over, Ganondorf was dead, there was nothing threatening to kill me, and I was free to go. Go anywhere I wanted. But I couldn't watch my troubles fall. My plans I had thought up, the things I wanted to do once I'd finished the bloody quest was rendered meaningless. Nothing was going to be the same. Not without...

I sobbed and bit my lip as I laid her to the scorched ground, her eyes closed to hide the white of her eyes, and the lack of the colour of them. I felt Zelda's hand place itself on my shoulder, felt her heal me with her magic. But I didn't have the strength to swat her away; the only thing I had left in me was the need to mourn for Sheik, for… her. Even if my bodily pain was gone, my heart was still broken and bleeding; I wondered if it would ever heal.

I didn't even know her real name.

I sobbed helplessly as Zelda let go of me, her next words making my blood turn solid-cold and boil like liquid-metal at the same time. "You have my condolences as well as my apologies. But . . . I am afraid that this is not yet over."

The rubbles shook, groaned and erupted, sending debris everywhere. From the dust Ganondorf floated in the air, the Triforce of Power resonating in his hand. I watched him float, twist in agony. He roared, very much alive, dispite the large gash at his chest. He looked at me with eyes empty of humanity, of compassion, or mercy. Everything that was left in those glowing eyes was evil and hate; something that left no space for the weak-hearted to survive. He was growing, tusks inching out of his jaw, his armour mutating into his skin...

Anger grew in my chest, turning to hate, to the want of revenge. I'd pierced him through the heart, and he was still alive. The Trforce of power resonated with black power, and this time I knew where to hit.

I stood and brought my shield and sword forward, refusing to be daunted by him as the Triforce piece went berserk and turned him into a true demon. I roared and charged, determined to finish him off, determined to strip the Triforce of Power off of him, determined to use the power of my own Triforce to get. My. _Revenge_.

The moment I left Zelda a great ring of fire sprang up into life, trapping both me and the pig in the ruins that was our arena. I didn't care. I was going to kill the bastard for what he did, kill him for whatever he did to Sheik. I roared and clashed swords with him, determined to have his blood. The Triforce of Courage throbbed and I faltered, resulting in the Master sword leaving my hands, flying outside the arena and getting itself hilt deep into the soil. Ammy shrieked as Ganon lifted one of his crooked swords.

I back-flipped away from the monster and circled him, knowing that he was slow thanks to his transformation. As I reached back for my Megaton hammer Ammy shrieked again, but this time at me. "Link! Don't be stupid! You'll get yourself killed!"

"I don't care!" I snapped at her, swinging the mallet at one of his shins. My weapon bounced back and Ganon reacted quickly, and I dodged the swing and circled him again for my next try. "He killed Sheik!"

"She's alive! She's dieing, but she's still alive!"

"_Shut up_! Just shut up,Ammy! Just everybody stop _lying _to me!"

Her light dimmed a second and she swayed through the air, like someone that just got hurt physically as well as emotionally, before shrieking again. "Link look out!"

I ducked just in time. The sword that had intended to decapitate me swung by harmlessly, but it was quickly followed by the second, and I jumped away, starting the process of circling him again.

"Link! You have to listen to me!" Ammy yelled as she followed, "Revenge is petty, even if Sheik died, it won't bring her back!"

"Revenge may not, but the Triforce of Power, _will_."

"That's out of the question! It's been with Ganon too long; it'll take it at least a full year without an owner to be used by someone else!"

"I don't care!"

"_Listen to me_! You…" she shrieked in pain and tumbled in the air as Ganon charged another energy blast and shot me with it. After dodging it, Ammy came back struggling, her light much duller than ever before. "Link. The dark magic is too strong for me to handle! I'd die at this rate! Look, his tail is his weak-spot! You hit him hard enough it'll break the spell on the fire, and you'll be able to get your sword again. You can't defeat him without the Master Sword. Remember that you hear!?"

Before I could answer she was swept away with a wave of magic, leaving me all on my own. But that didn't make any difference to before. Ammy had given me what I needed most, and I circled him faster, this time with a purpose. I found his tail, grotesque and wriggling for the action, and with all the energy I had I slammed my Mallet onto the round blob at the end, all my anger and hate towards him put into that single attack.

He roared like something that came out of a nightmare, his head flinging back to stare at the dark clouds that obscured the sky above. I jumped back as he turned and swung one of his swords, roaring at me with anger that I knew only came from a demon from the depths of hell. I jumped back and crouched as the big mass of muscle and evil stomped towards me, clearly more than pissed off at what I had done to his weak-spot. I snarled and smirked at the same time, almost enjoying the fight I was in.

"There's plenty more where that came from, _blubber_."

I jumped forward and rolled between his legs, swinging the hammer up and down, hitting the tail where it was especially thin. He roared again and his hilt slammed into my stomach. For a second I forgot what was happening. I was coughing blood as I was launched into the air, earning myself a scream from the Princess. I was brought back down to the ground with the flat of Ganon's other crooked sword, and I hit the ground as fast the crack of a whip, my ribs fracturing with a sound I knew I'd be sick of till I died, and loud enough for me to hear.

I lifted my face up with difficulty, noting my swollen lip, cut mouth, and the colony of small scratches on my face. I'd dropped my temporary weapon through my 'flight' and I reached back for my bow and quiver of arrows, my Triforce casting the spell on my Light arrow. I waited until he was close enough. I waited until he raised his sword to bring down on me. Pain seared through my entire body as I flipped and fired at random, shooting the Holy arrow into him. He roared as the arrow struck his uplifted arm, but none the less he lowered his weapon, thinking of killing me.

I growled and rolled away, the sword cutting a few hairs and making them fly. Finally, the spell was undone, but I doubted I had the strength to run all the way to the sword and back; my ribs were harassing me enough as it was. But that was until the Princess called my name, the sound of whistling catching my ears. The sword clattered and skidded only centimetres away, and I grinned when I held it in my hands. Maybe the royal wasn't so useless after all.

On instinct I jumped forward, and the same instinct saved my life. I turned to see Ganon's sword embedded into rock and the other already lowering. I shot into his face three arrows at the same time, and he roared, staggering back, losing his balance. I cut at his bucking feet, and he finally fell, a column of blue light falling on him.

"Link!" I turned back to see Zelda being the reason of the column, and I couldn't help but grin. The royal really _wasn't_ that useless after all. "I and the sages will hold him! Place the final blow!"

I turned back at the demon that was struggling against an aura of blue, and I growled, looking for his Triforce. It was embedded into his hand, glowing an ominous yellow and black. I pulled the sword back, and stabbed. He roared, and roared louder as I completely severed his hand, falling at my feet with a sickening squelch.

I flicked it further back with the Master Sword and I stabbed again through his snout, making white light stream through the blade and into his system, making him scream at what I hoped was intense pain. I grunted when the sages came forth with their own lights, forcing themselves into his body, tormented him further, enveloping him in a rainbow cloak. I spat blood on the ground as he shrunk and was flung into a vortex, which closed as soon as he was in.

Then suddenly, the air felt like a rock. It weighed down on me as my legs buckled and fell under me, making me fall to the ground. I closed my eyes, faintly hearing someone call out to me.

Sheik…?


	9. Disturbing Dreams

_**Disturbing Dreams**_

You know, after several repetitive dreams, you just know that it's a dream, even if your dream self doesn't know it. You know what I mean? Like, before I was officially the Hero of Time, when I kept having recurring dreams about getting the Master Sword, I knew it was a dream after several goes, even if the me _inside_ the dream was terrified and believed with his whole, dream-self soul that it was real.

And that's why I knew _this_ was a dream too.

I was running. Running as fast as my two legs could carry me. Away from all the monsters I had to face in the temples; a whole army of them all, including all the critters and the big bosses. I wasn't armed, and I had nobody to fight next to me. Not even the Blind girl.

Oh, the Blind Girl's another one of the characters in my recurring dreams. She first came to me at the Ice Caverns(1), and… well… after that she pretty much came every night.

She came with a warm lantern when Morpha was strangling me, making the _thing_ evaporate with that puny flame in her hands. She giggled at me when I told her that she made me feel inadequate, and she hugged me. She laughed when I got frightened that I might break her.

When Phantom Ganon came back with the four Poe sisters, the Blind Girl somehow made them argue, which quickly became a civil war and we laughed at them together, and she held my hand in her small, tanned fingers. As I pressed them to my mouth, they smelt of warm potions and herbs.

Volvagia was no problem; it obeyed her every word, and we waltzed into its domain, the flying lizard throwing fiery light as we whirled, the four fire-dancers accompanying us in their corners. Her blue dress cooled my burns, and she'd hum the song, and she let me lead.

At the Shadow temple she looked at me behind her snowy blindfold, and told me to ignore everything else. I did, and everything just dissipated to nothing, into the shadows they were born from, leaving us lying on Bongo's drum. I'd hold her close and her blonde hair would brush my cheek, and I'd feel her heartbeat near mine.

Every nightmare turned into something warm and content when she was near. She'd do the impossible and simply _flick_ my demons away, and she just smiled at me, and I smiled back, and I'd wake up in pain, but a lot happier than the moment I went to sleep.

But now I was alone. Dreaming that I was being chased by a whole horde of monsters that she had so easily nudged off the edge, wanting revenge, demanding my blood after cowering and pressing my miserable face against her skirts. They yelled and taunted and mocked me, asking me where my Heroine was, where was I going to hide now? I didn't know, how could I know? I was running in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, as the army came closer and closer…

Nothing dropped from my feet. I fell into nothing, screaming like a terrified child, shaming all the Heroes who had come before me.

"_Oof_!"

This would usually be my queue to wake up, but I must be out hard; I was still in my nightmare, terrified, ready to cry, all on my own.

I scrambled onto all fours, looking up to see whether the monsters were still after me, but all I saw was black. Thank Furore that _that_ was over…

I stiffened. Somebody was crying, and I knew who it was.

I looked ahead of me, and there she was, the Blind Girl, on the floor with her back turned to me. I ran to her, tried to hug her from behind, about to tell her just how much I had missed her, about to ask her why was she crying, what was wrong?

I phased right through her. I landed over the body she was crying over, and I saw that the person was me.

You know, one would think that I'd wake up by now, with how my heart seemed to have wrenched my ribcage in hopes of escaping, but no. The Hero of Time has to suffer a little more, apparently.

There was something eerily wrong with Dead Me. It wasn't me, obviously, but his open eyes were black, not blue, so was his hair, and his skin had a shadowy tinge that reminded me of murky waters. There was a blood stain on his dark green tunic, and it was slowly but surely, receding.

I looked over at the Blind Girl, hoping she'd have an explanation, but I paled when I saw that she was bleeding at the chest too. The horrible stain was spreading across her breast insanely fast, as the injury on Dead Me shrank and turned to nothing. Her tears turned from transparent to crimson as Dead Me smirked with a feral grin, sitting up and all healthy now, a jagged dagger in his hand.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" The Blind girl sobbed over and over, smearing her face and hands with blood. She turned to me and dived into my arms, staining my tunic hauntingly red. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

Dead Me raised the dagger and with a sinister flash, it plunged. Blood squirted from her back and mouth, and with a laugh that was way too similar to Ganondorf's for my liking, he said, "I'd hate to be you right now."

He chuckled and sank into the shadows, eyes flashing yellow.

I shouted a name; I couldn't remember what it was.

Blood gurgled from her lips as I laid her down, my tears mixing with hers. Her blood-soaked hand twitched in mine, the smell of herbs buried under metal. I didn't even know her name. I didn't even know what she really looked like behind that blindfold that was supposed to be pure white, not black with blood.

Now it was me who was repeating, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

She smiled despite her pain. Her breath shook as she forced out the words, "It's okay. I… I did hurt, you, so… call… it… eve…n…"

"No! No! Wait, please, you saved me, I, you…!"

It was a stupid thing to do, since, dim as my acknowledgement was, I knew she was only a figment of my imagination. But as I saw her fade away, because I couldn't help her, because of a demented version of me… I couldn't think of anything else to do. And I didn't really give a damn.

I kissed her, not tasting blood but crisp, cool, green apples.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The first thing I noticed was the pain. I wasn't surprised, but I wasn't too happy either. Frankly I'm just surprised that I was alive, actually.

I winced as I tried to move. I failed spectacularly. The only place I could move without hurting was my neck, and even then there was some nasty clicking.

The grazes on my cheek landed on the pillow in a stinging mess, and my thoughts swam with dizziness; I nearly blacked out.

Slowly, dimly, I counted to ten before doing anything else.

I thought it was just my eyes being hazy on me at first, but now I realised why everything seemed so dim. I was awake in the middle of the night, the moonlight casting a beam into the dust-flying room, candles on the bedside table flickering over lots of potions and herbs that sent smells that, again, nearly made me black out.

But it was a pleasant smell, nonetheless.

I watched the dieing remains of the candle and its flame, flickering lazily between yellow and red and orange, then back to red…

Red… red…?

"Sheik."

My throat felt parched. All I could manage was a husky croak, a whisper that tore at the back of my mouth. I couldn't believe that breathing hurt… so much… My chest felt like it was being ripped apart… my eyes stung like mad.

Why? Why did she have to…?

Something shifted against my arm. Despite not being surprised, I was dismayed that I couldn't even scream.

I think that whatever made that discomfort heard me hiss, because alarmed eyes peered down at me, reflecting in the candle light. They swam with tears, those eyes, and looking at them… I knew I was still asleep, dreaming, having a nightmare, _something_. Any second now, before I woke up disappointed and hurt even more… yeah, closing my eyes seemed like a good idea…

"No, no! Link, please!" a voice begged. "Please, please, don't, don't fall asleep…! I still haven't told you anything, you still haven't let me…" a choked sob and a muffled sniff. "I'm sorry I lied to you, I'm sorry I made you think I was dead, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

It was difficult, but I did it. I opened my eyes, and there they were still. Red eyes. Both uncovered.

A soft jawed girl looked down at me, her hair a messy mop at the top, complete with spikes, wispy and longish at the nape of her neck. A giant blue-black bruise covered the right side of her face under her tan, and she had a small mouth.

She knuckled her face like a soft child, smudging the salty tears on her cheeks, "I've been so worried, you were out cold for two days… I… I would've been livid if you had lengthened it by another day, buster. I h-hate clichés."

Her sheepish smile wavered at her own joke before she stopped trying to be tough. A tear welled and spilled. She sniffed loudly. "I thought you wouldn't wake up. I know you need sleep to heal, but you can't go on without some food…" she began to rise slowly, as if her muscles were stiff. "I've got something for you. Stay up, okay? You can sleep as much as you want afterwards, just… you need your strength back. Please."

I managed to nod before she limped away, and when the candlelight caught her face, there were blue patches under her eyes.

She came back in a second, holding a glass that looked like a hybrid of a flask and a recorder. She slid a cool arm under my head, and tipped the glass to my lips. Cool and unpleasantly minty, but sweet water with small lumps of what tasted like fruit slid down my throat, making my sludge covered teeth tingle. I gratefully gulped it down and leaned into her, glad for her warmth, her soft gentle hands…

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The Blind Girl was singing, passing her fingertips through Dead Me's fringe.

I wanted to kill him.

He was sprawled against her, comfortable as a King. He smirked at me knowing he had what I wanted most, knowing that it infuriated me. She held him in an embrace I longed to be in, combing her fingertips into his hair, her lips brushing against the tip of his ear that had far too many piercings.

I struggled against my chains, and he only snickered. I desperately listened, wanting that song for myself, and Dark Me (since he obviously wasn't Dead now) let me hear her.

"Breathe in deeply and hear my call, in sickness I hold you in case you fall, I see no further than your hand, I make a choice and take a stand, I raise the ladle to your lips, drip water to your fingertips, tomorrow's a black hush in the middle of the night, please open your eyes to the morning light…?"

She kept humming the tune, putting a gentle kiss to his head. He sneered as I fumed, thinking, she doesn't know what she's doing, that it should be me that she's holding, I'm going to _kill_ him for doing this to her, to me, to _us_…!

He chuckled at my struggling and leaned closer to her. He put a lecherous hand to her cheek and held her as he brushed his tongue along her jaw, sending a ripple through her body. His other arm snaked across her abdomen, holding her closer, making her gasp.

That. was. _it._

"Stop it!"

His smile widened at my alarm, pulling at her collar to reveal her slender shoulder, biting down hungrily.

"Get away from her, you freak! She's not yours, she's… she's…" he laughed at my hesitance, at my cowardice for not claiming her for myself, for not knowing her name. He gripped her by her hair and plunged for a kiss, fiercely devouring her, wordlessly taking her for himself.

No… _no_…

"Bastard! Get away from her! Get… stop it! Stop it, she's not yours, she's… you… I hate you! I hate you!"

What really broke me wasn't my pathetic protests, or my inability to free her. It was that… she didn't struggle. Maybe she couldn't, or… maybe she didn't want to. But to see her holding that pitiful copy of me, to watch her kiss that damn shadow back with the same amount of fierceness… it strangled me either way.

She threw her head back as if in a fit of passion, and her eyes met mine (I think, hope, wish), upside down. I saw that her blindfold was black, stained by blood, _tainted_. Dark Me smirked and eased off her blindfold, and it slid from her face and hit the black ground, and her crimson eyes looked at me, shining like rubies sitting on a fountain of tears.

She moaned like a kitten, and I broke.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Link. You're having a nightmare, there's nothing to worry about, Link, you're having a nightmare-"

"No kidding," I coughed, groaning. My chest was on fire, and my forehead felt like it'd just turned into a crisp. The wet cloth was definitely not helping me. I was sweating, it seemed, and I decided I hate, hate, _hate_ vivid nightmares. _Especially _when I couldn't vividly _remember_ them.

The sun winked wickedly in my eyes, and I cussed. I attempted to sit up, failed the first time, but somehow I got it done with a little bit of help. Wow, wait, who was helping me…?

I blinked the haziness from my eyes and looked at the extremely pale lady, her wheat-coloured hair swaying stiffly as she moved. Crystal-blue eyes stared at mine worriedly, and it clicked. "Hi, Zelda."

Damn it, my voice was still a croak.

"Hello, Link. It's good to see that you're back with the living, but I would advise against any movement for another day; your spine is fractured, you have damaged four of your ribs, and the grazes on your person are quite vulnerable to infection." She ignored my confused stare and handed me a glass of water, which, I was proud to say, that I didn't need help drinking. She motioned towards the bedside table, which had been replaced with a completely different table overflowing with bottles of different shapes and sizes, all with notes stuck on them.

But what really got to me was that she was consulting a piece of paper. "A fairy would cause discomfort and scarring it seems, so there are several potions and herb pellets you are to take every day, and apparently this perfume eases the pain…"

"So you healed me?" I asked, trying to get to grips, finished with the water. Does nobody realise that I've just woken up from a coma and having a bloody hard time _breathing_?

She shook her head and put her paper down onto the table, taking my empty glass. "I was not the one who stayed up two nights and two days in a row, falling unconscious against one's own will to make sure you stayed alive, Link. It was Sheik."

My head suddenly felt empty of everything except pain and confusion. Red eyes. That night… but that was a dream… my eyes stung again and it was so hard to breathe, so hard to hold all my thoughts about her back… impossible. Improbable. There was no point being hopeful, no, bloody, _point_! Stop it… stop remembering…

"She's dead, Zelda. Dead. She was cold when I carried her down the castle. She didn't even twitch, much less breathe. She… she…"

"Sheik is alive, Link." She insisted gravely, ignoring my grief that spilled from my eyes, "I don't know what she did, or _how_ she created such an imitation of death, but it was her that dressed your wounds, watched over you until you woke, found all your injuries, inside and out, prepared every potion conceivable to help you back to health."

"Then where _is_ she? _Where_? If she'd been so darn worried, why isn't she here now? She promised…" I choked on my own breath. Calm down, calm down… "She promised to tell me everything. She promised…"

"And she has fulfilled it," from the folds of her dress she pulled out a wad of paper an inch thick, handing it to me. It was an envelope addressed to me; there was no name on the back.

"But that still doesn't tell me why she's not here," I insisted, almost desperately. I needed to see her alive. I needed to touch her, to speak to her, to listen to her; I had so many things I wanted to know, so many things I wanted to tell her…

Zelda looked troubled. "It seems as if she does not wish for you to see her-"

"Oh now she _doesn't_ want to see if I'm okay?"

"No. She wants to see you, but she's not sure whether you want to see her."

That stung. It really, really stung. I looked at the letter and found myself hating it, ripping it open to see what it said.

_Link,_

_Firstly, I want to say I'm sorry. Sorry for not telling you earlier about my 'physique, per se'. Sorry for making you think I was dead. Sorry for every lie, every secret I kept from you. I've written everything I can think of about me, about my family, everything, in hopes that you'll forgive me._

I flicked through the pages. Eight, ten, thirteen… fifteen. Fourteen pages completely covered in erratic writing, the last page reserved for a sentence I didn't bother to read. I flicked my gaze towards the window, and a flash of blond hair and tanned skin flitted from sight, and I felt my anger burn my chest even more.

Slowly, deliberately, _loudly_, I tore the letter in half, then quarters, and then eighths, smaller and smaller. I stuffed the pieces in the envelope and threw it aside.

Guilt slowly welled up in my gut as Zelda looked at the pieces that had escaped being stuffed back into the package sadly, as if they were innocent birds that'd been hit by stray rocks, not deserving to die, immoral, unfair, cruel…

"I want to hear it from her," I protested, weakly, loudly, at the window.

There was no reply, and that didn't sting. It was stabbing.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

A week. A week of living alone in a house that didn't belong to me, of brutal healing, of continuous nightmares, of loneliness. My spine was completely cured thanks to the potions and creams, but I got a massive scar that, in my opinion, was the best and worst earned. I got it by trying to protect someone I loved, but Sheik wasn't even here. I wasn't even sure she was alive, still. My ribs were still healing, giving me an excuse as to why sometimes it was so damn hard to breathe, why sometimes the pain in my chest swallows me whole. My grazes were nicely scabbed. I was still limping from a busted ankle and knee.

A week of thinking, of regretting, of looking towards the envelope and the pieces of the letter and not knowing what to do with it. A week of looking at the corner where Sheik had slept, unused for ages now, her chain draped across the sheets. A week until Zelda came visiting again.

"Oh thank Furore," I couldn't help but sigh when she came through the door, "The monotony was killing me; you want some soup? You can probably manure the garden with how bad this tastes, but… it's filling," I shrugged, and she smiled fondly.

"Thank you. But I must decline; I came here in order to explain a few things to you, including Ganondorf's attempt at taking Hyrule."

I twitched. "I know that this was his second time, if that's what you've come to explain."

She shook her head sadly. "I came to explain why he was able to take over the second time, despite my knowing, despite Sheik's constant warnings…"

I winced.

She asked whether we could both sit down, since it was such a long story. I sat on the bed while she sat on a chair, contemplatively smoothing out her skirts.

"When I sealed Ganondorf and put you back in time, I didn't think that time itself would back track. I had assumed that everything would be as it was, and you would appear, properly mature, having lived your lost seven years. I was a fool."

She sighed and shook her head, a pain I didn't understand in her crystal eyes. "I didn't remember a thing. When Sheik was assigned to me, I knew of her nightmares, but I assumed them to be bred from her imagination. She had quite the… impish, sense of humour. Still does, I think."

"You don't have to tell me," I say, remembering her.

She smiled again. "Yes, well… when I began to have the same sort of dreams myself, she began to discuss it with me quite heatedly, which, I am sorry to say I didn't pay much attention to.

"I'd believed the seal strong enough to withstand the test of Time. I had thought, that since the Sacred Realm was detached from this world, that it would prevent Ganondorf from escaping. Foolish. I had forgotten that he possessed the Triforce piece of Power. I had forgotten that the Master Sword cannot stop entities from escaping the Sacred Realm if they are not present at that specific time. I had thought, again, foolishly, that since I had not remembered, and nobody else but Sheik had remembered, perhaps Ganondorf did not remember either even if he was at large. He did not attack the same time he did before; I took that as a sign that he was trapped, or he had decided never to bother my Kingdom again. Foolish, foolish, foolish."

She sighed, gingerly releasing her fingers from her fist, curling them warily. "The years I spent in exile taught me all I knew about the Kingdom, in the time that never occurred. I was distracted by the things I wanted, of false hopes, of my silly conceptions of importance and my obligations to obey my father… again, it cost him his life."

She looked at me, imploringly. "With the magic of both myself and the Sages', and the help of the people, we are coming close to the completion of the castle. I must beg of you to come to the castle and live within its walls, and… perhaps advise me."

I jolted, shocked. "Me? Ad… advise you? _You_?"

She smiled crookedly, looking more human that she had done since we met, "You were the one that saw this country most, Link. You werethe one brave enough to fight the Dark Lord, and severe the tie between him and the Triforce of Power. You hold the knowledge; I shall reap it, and turn it to wisdom."

I frowned. She seemed to realise something. "I don't mean to use you as a tool, please, I never mean it that way. I only wish to better myself through your teachings. Please, I… I only… I …"

"Alright," I said, shrugging. I understood now, why this whole mess was caused. In a sense I wasn't surprised: anybody would hope for the best. Strangely I felt no grudge, except. "I'll come to the castle with you. I'll advise you and share my experiences… on one condition: Eradicate my title as the Hero of Time as soon as I ask."

"Done."

I was shocked at how easily she accepted my condition, and to my expression she just shrugged and made a comment on great things having great prices.

* * *

**1: Check out 'Cold Waters' where Link goes unconscious; that's where she first comes out. although I think I got the colouring mixed up...**

**Anyway, yay! Thank you all for reading this far! I'm hoping to end this story in the next chapter, or the chapter after that, but yay! Nearly done, and nearly one hundred reveiws! That's like a record or something!**

**And for this chapter, I'd especially like to thank _TheWatcherandReader_ for being so kind and betaing this piece of the story! A round of applause, people!**

**And review?**


	10. Epilogue

_**Epilogue: Great things Come with Great Prices**_

A month since the restoration of the Castle, and me living in its walls. Time had never gone slower for me than in those cursed days. I was losing hope of ever seeing Sheik again. Fast. Zelda insisted that she was alive, insisted that she'd show herself when she was ready, but… I had a feeling that she just didn't want to see me, after I ripped her message to shreds.

I was regretting ripping that damn letter, but I could never bring myself to take it out of its satchel and piece it together. I wanted to hear it from _her_, damn it, from her mouth and her's alone! How did I know it wasn't a hoax, anyway? Anybody could write a letter.

I missed her. I needed her. And if Zelda had noticed how easy it had been for me to change the pronouns for my friend, she didn't say anything about it.

Instead she asked me to attend her Birthday Ball, when all the nobles who'd escaped Hyrule were welcomed back, where the wealthy of other countries could see that it was safe to trade with Hyrule again, and it would be a great advantage to do some peace negotiations right about then. It was a great opportunity to introduce all the races of Hyrule too.

I agreed only because there was a high chance that Sheik would be there, since now that Impa was a sage, Sheik was the only one qualified enough to guard Princess Zelda.

Boy was I wrong.

Every dark corner, every curtain, every single place a Sheikah guardian would hide, or think to hide, I checked. Nothing, nada, naught, zilch, zero. I wished I could die. I hated balls, I hated wearing the Master Sword on my back even though there was no apparent danger, and I _especially_ hated dancing. Music was for listening to; that. was. _it_.

Sheik's proverbs about 'dancing with death' do that to you.

As soon as I checked all hiding places twice, I escaped to a balcony, the smallest one in the darkest corner. It was designed for quiet time between lovers, apparently, but somehow the designers got it wrong and made it a little too shadowy for romantic taste. I liked that. It reminded me of people. Person. Aarrgh…

I was buried so deeply in my self-pity and guilt that I didn't notice that someone was there already.

"Oh…"

I jolted. "Oh."

The woman looked away and tried to retreat back into the light. "Forgive me, I didn't know you were coming, I'll jus-"

"Wait." I knew that voice. I'd know that voice anywhere. The woman hesitated, and I found myself recognising that hair, measuring her height. It was weird to see her have a round chest, curves that armour had hidden for so long, but watching her move… hidden strength vibrated in her steps, and I only saw it because I'd admired it for a long, long time.

The moonlight caught her face. Rubies flashed in her eyes.

"Sheik…"

She looked away, her head tilted to the side, looking lost, forlorn… I was reminded of the letter and what I'd done to it. I stammered over my words, trying to say everything at once. Sorry, why, I'm glad, how could you, I missed you, where the hell were you, I love you…

"Link."

That shocked me back to the present. "Sheik… why…?"

She took a deep breath; turned to the rail of the balcony. "I've been freed from my bindings; I no longer protect the Princess. Or Queen… since she is to be Crowned soon enough."

I struggled vainly to focus. Sheik was here. I was _talking _to her. She was _alive_! Why the heck was I having so much trouble putting sentences together!? "Right… so… uh…"

"I'm leaving."

My blood froze.

She continued on, still looking towards the outside world; never at me. "My old charge, Princess Loretta of Berumon. She needs a protector. I accepted the proposition. I leave with them in two days time."

"You're leaving…?"

She turned my way, but she never looked at me. She lowered herself in a practised curtsey foreign to my image of her, utterly shutting me out. "I won't bother you any longer; goodnight."

I felt betrayed as she turned away again. She'd lied to me. _Again_. She promised to tell all, she promised, she _promised_…

"Where the hell were you all this time?!"

She turned, but she wasn't looking at me. Why? _Why_?! "You swore that you'd tell me everything!"

"I did. But you tore it up."

"I thought you were dead!"

"Then was there any need to know me more?"

The acid in her tone aggravated me. "You betrayed me."

I glared at her, heat burning my guts, wishing I could just shake her, shout at her, as she finally met my eyes and said, "Yes, yes I did. Goodbye, Hero of Time; I hope you have a good life, after such a torturous time."

Then she left me, cold and alone on the balcony, the image of her eyes, so dead and forlorn and broken, haunting me in the night.

""""""""""""""""""""""""'''''"

I desperately scrabbled for purchase, dreading the three-story fall.

This must be the most idiotic thing I've done so far, and that was definitely saying something. I mean, scaling the castle walls just to talk to someone who obviously didn't like me anymore…

I finally got hold of an eagle head with my foot, and I sighed in temporary relief. I searched for the window I wanted, and after spotting it, I continued crawling through the frighteningly bendy branches.

I wondered what Zelda thought I was going to do.

After Sheik walked out on me, I needed to vent some of that anger out. Obviously, I couldn't do it to anybody I wanted to, so I marched up to Zelda, grabbed her elbow, dragged us into a relatively dark corner and demanded where Sheik's room was.

She'd cocked an eyebrow at me. "May I enquire why you'd like to know that?"

"Because," I said with forced patience, "She just walked out on me without any sort of explanation, without letting me ask any questions, without even a proper conversation, but most importantly, she walked out on me before I could even _apologise_. Now tell me where her room is before I decide to murder somebody important in her place!"

She gave me a flat gaze on my contradictory statement and said that I'd find her window on the north-east-eastern side of the castle, third floor, a maple tree branch tangled with morning glory in easy reach of it.

I was gone before she could even breathe.

And so there I was, crouching on a branch that looked straight into Sheik's room, (I wondered why Zelda didn't just point out the door for me, but…) and there was no light, except for one small flame from an oil-lamp. I popped the lock with a bent piece of metal and several good twists.

I'd have to thank Sheik for that technique later.

I swung the door open and closed it with a silent click, noting that the figure on the bed was fast asleep. Something crunched as I took a step, and it glinted in the moonlight. Metal? I crouched and took a look. Mirror.

I looked up and shuddered. An ornate mirror was shattered, a dagger pierced into the old wooden framing, dead-centre. Why would she do that?

I looked at the bed again, and I realised that she was still dressed as the same from the ball. She wasn't even under the sheets; just sprawled over the mattress on her back, as if she'd just thrown herself there and fallen asleep. That really couldn't be good for her…

Careful not to cut myself on the mirror shards, I kneeled next to the bed, looking at her face. It was crusted with salty trails and I found myself brushing them off, inching towards the fringe that had hidden her for so long. She'd said there was a scar. But it could just as easily be a lie…

I slid her fringe back. She moaned in protest, and the light from the lamp and moon graced her features.

I felt disappointed.

There was no scar; just a tattoo. A thick line of blue silver, curved to look like an animated tear-streak. Near the corner of her mouth a black star instead of a tear-drop winked at me like a kiss mark.

I then wondered whether Sheik really was a virgin at kissing.

Because now that I had a proper chance of looking at her, she looked amazing. The tattoo framed her cheek perfectly, and it stood out over her light tan. Her nose was an elegant point, her small mouth full, and the way her hair glowed in the moonlight…

Yeah. She was hot.

I tried not to stare at the very nice bulge at her chest, or remember the legs I'd told myself to look away from countless times in her armour. The image I pieced together was a very, _very_ attractive one. I nearly forgot why I was there in the first place.

I noticed that she was twitching in her sleep; the shadow of fear clouded her face.

My heart pounded. Don't wake. No, don't wake up, please, I didn't even know what I was going to say, much less how, you wake up now, I swear, I'd kill myself, oh gods _no_…

She fumbled with the mattress, coughed, and then saw me. _Shit_.

I felt like a statue as she slowly braced herself on her elbows, then sitting up. She was taller that way, and if it weren't for the fact that I wasn't breaking eye-contact with her in case it helped, I'd be staring at her chest. She squinted in the half-light and rubbed her eyes, slowly recognising me.

Her face twisted tiredly. She let out a pained, "_Why_?"

I opened my mouth to answer, and nothing came out when I realised she was crying.

"Why do you always come after me? What have I done now? Haven't I been punished enough?" her shoulders shook. She wilted as if an unbearable weight was crushing her. "I've left you alone all this time haven't I? I stayed away, I didn't even let myself _look_ at you. It was an accident that we met, I swear, it was you who told me to stay away, it was you. I've already said I'm sorry, haven't I? For lying to you, for hiding from you, for betraying you, for hurting you, for scaring you… I've said that I'm sorry. It's like I haven't said anything else my entire life… is this not enough for you? Is that it? Did you come just to remind me how much of a jack-ass I am?" more tears squeezed their way between her eyelids, her head bowed and trembling.

Considering I didn't understand a single word she said and how I got tied into this, I was guessing that she probably thought she was dreaming. And seeing someone so strong, so sharp on skill and blunt on insults, seeing Sheik look so _shattered_…

I promptly kissed her on the forehead and said, "Not true."

She sniffed, and for once she didn't look like a warrior, or a scholar, or a rebel, or even a Sheikah. She just looked like a frightened kid, laying out her demons in front of her. She sniffed and wept, "_What_'s not true?"

"You're not a jack-ass, as you put it, and I missed you." I sat next to her, stroking her head, tangling my fingers in her hair, "I was so scared you weren't alive…"

"Unfortunately,"

"Say that again, and I will do something unpleasant." I warned, and she whimpered. I sighed, "How'd you do it anyway?"

She sniffed and rubbed her eyes with her arm, hugging her knees before looking away. "I used magic."

I frowned. "But I thought you didn't have any."

"I don't. Not the Hylian stuff anyway. What I did was purely Sheikah soul magic. Anybody can do it if they tried hard enough. Apparently. Anyway I had some cicada wings with me. Preserved. I cut myself and covered it in blood. Put myself in that meditative state and felt like crap when I was done. I went to the Spirit Temple, and you were fighting those witches."

The fact that I suddenly had the answer to my short-notice guide's disappearance put me off guard. "…You were that fairy. Ammy. That was… that was _you_!?"

She looked real upset at my tone, "I'm sorry I made you think I was dead, okay? It was my first go, I didn't even know it was going to work, much less what I was going to look like. I knew it was dangerous not knowing how long a body would last without a soul but you needed help, I didn't want to know what the Spirit Temple would do after th-"

"But you could've _died_. You-"

"We were near death every time we got out of a friggin' temple, and I felt so _useless_. I should've sensed those Stalfos coming, I should've warned you, I shouldn't've been so caught up on you and me and… it was the perfect chance to start opening up, at least I thought it was, that's why I said my name was Ammy, 'cause that's my real name, I mean the one my parents called me by, but I got that so wrong and confusing I didn't know what else to do… I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be, please, it's okay now…" I wrapped my arms around her shaking shoulders, and she clung on, almost desperately. "It's okay now."

"No it's not," she choked on air and trembled against me, soaking the front of my shirt, "I hurt you. It was gutless, giving you a letter instead of talking to you. I had so many opportunities to tell you who I was but I always let it slide 'cause I was so scared you'd hate me and you'd never want to look at me and I wouldn't be able to do anything with you anymore and, and, it was so wrong…"

"You really have to stop doing that." I muttered, and she looked up at me questioningly. "Kicking yourself, I mean."

She didn't say anything. Just held on and didn't let go.

"I missed you, you know." I breathed, rubbing my hand along her arm, "I thought I'd lost you. You didn't even show up after… I'm sorry I ripped the letter. You already know I did that, right?"

She nodded.

"I just… I wanted to hear it from you. It was so hard to believe that you were still up and about… I'm sorry, Sheik. I never thought… I didn't mean to hurt you this badly."

"I deserved it."

"Like hell you did."

She made a complaining whine. At least she stopped crying…

"You didn't need to drive yourself this hard. I'm sorry I made you think you had to do it; because you didn't. I'm just glad you're okay. Well, not _okay_, but… just happy you're alive. I thought…" I shifted her and held her closer, her contours pressing against my chest. I gulped for more reasons than one. "I thought I lost you without knowing you. You're such a great person to be around… gods, Sheik, I missed you so much…"

I rocked her, humming, and her hands slacked from my shirt, she leaned in on me, relaxed, her eyes closed. "Why did you leave a letter, anyway? Why weren't you there when I woke up?"

"You said you hated me." she breathed, sounding miserable.

That piece of news was definitely new to me. "What? When?"

She gave a shuddering sigh and burrowed deeper into my shirt. "You were mumbling in your sleep. My name, and you kept repeating 'I hate you'. I…"

"It wasn't you," I realised, the dream coming back to me, the Blind Girl, Dark Me… "I don't think you were even in the dream, it… it was me, but it wasn't me, and… he did something that… I don't remember. But it had nothing to do with you. Nothing."

She pulled away from the embrace I was really happy to be in, and looked at me, uncertain, some of that life I knew coming back to her. "So… so you, you don't hate me?"

I shook my head. "Never have, never will." I kissed her forehead again for good measure, and she gave a sheepish smile before hugging me again, more relaxed than ever, breathing in deeply and calmly. Damn, she was so warm…

"Awuvyu" she mumbled against my neck, and I had to ask her to repeat it.

She looked at me and then away, mumbling again in an embarrassed way that made me think she was confessing to a petty crime, "I love you."

I couldn't help the smile that stretched across my face. The night was getting better and better. "Really?"

She flicked her gaze my way just a bit, as if checking that I was okay with her confession, and added in that same embarrassed, pleading tone. "So much it hurts."

I tilted her chin so she faced me, rubbing my thumb over her cheek. She looked immensely tired, her eyelids were already drooping, and gods she seemed just as soft as she looked…

I kissed her, her lips familiar against mine. She nudged back just a bit before sighing and going lax, snuggling against my chest before drifting off to sleep. I laid her down, pulling the duvet over her, shaking my head at the urge to describe this girl who chased Poes for a hobby 'cute'. And another thing. Why had she felt familiar…?

I watched her sleep, contemplating. I gave the room and quick look-over before finding her scarf on the floor at the foot of the bed. I took it. Mulled it over. I placed the scarf gently over her eyes like a blindfold, and hid her tattoo with her fringe.

There she was, the Blind Girl, solid and real and right in front of me.

Furore, I may not love you as much as the girl(s) in front of me, but you're definitely a close second.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

She sat on the bench in the sunlight, watching the wagons be prepared for the long trip home. Out of sight, the Royal Carriage waited, where she would be seated with the King and Queen, the friends of her parents, and their children, about her age. She vaguely remembered them, she supposed, but they hadn't met much since that instance when she'd told the boys a story spawned from boredom about a particularly nasty demon in the shack that lead to the dungeons when they were all only eight…

She smiled nostalgically; she would enjoy catching up with them, she hoped, if they were still as fun loving and easily manipulated into dares…

She suddenly wondered why Zelda had let her go so easily. She'd said something about Great things coming with great prices, but she was _losing_ a guardian; her statement had made no sense at all.

The girl shrugged inwardly, grateful for the Princess. Sure, she'd claimed to hate the royal's guts since her sister's death but… she'd known it'd been too late. Too late to save Willa, she'd known, but she'd needed something to blame, something to hate for her whole family's departure… and Zelda had provided that. And for that, the girl was grateful.

Now she was going home. _Home_. She wondered what it'd be like now. The Fire Lilies would be in bloom, most likely, and the Violets… not as tender and soft as the Hylian ones, but they were so vibrant in colour… it would be good to see Berumon again. Very good.

She looked up at the clear blue sky, letting the sunlight wash over her face. She adorned no scarf, and her fringe was neatly tucked behind her ear, letting the tear-streak mark glitter in the light. Funny. She'd always liked the shadows better, to lie in the cool and ignore the sun, thinking its rays too warm and bothersome to enjoy. Maybe in winter, but never in any other time of the year…

Now she drank it all in, the soft warmth of the sun, revelling in the light she had seen countless time in his eyes…

"Heya Sheik."

Said girl gave a squeal and jump that would've made her ancestors groan and smack their foreheads in exasperation.

She leapt forward and spun, a dagger in her hand, meeting the eyes of her chortling offender. She couldn't believe her eyes. "… Link?!"

"Hey."

He looked so… cheerful, leaning on the bench she'd been sitting on, smiling at her from the shadows, at the irony. Sheik wondered whether she would ever be able to live it down, being caught off guard by a Hylian. Well, he _was_ the Hero of Time…

He was watching her intently, and Sheik realised it was the first time he'd truly _seen_ her, with no cowl or hair to hide behind. She fought the blush that came from his scrutinizing. And his smile. "You look good. The hair's interesting, but I think you'd look nicer with all of it long. Nice tattoo." He gestured towards his cheek, indicating her silver-blue and black mark.

This time she really did blush. "Scar," she countered defensively, putting her dagger away, "I used to have tattoos, one's like Impa, but… they got replaced…"

She watched him for the snort and roll of the eyes, the obvious disbelief and the resignation for the lies that was sure to come, but instead he gave an interested nod and hopped onto the bench, sitting down like a sack of hay, patting the spot next to him.

He… he was being friendly. That smile, that interest, it wasn't forced.

Sheik found herself wondering whether she wasn't still asleep, as she tentatively sat next to him, pulling a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"So…" a mixture of elation and horror rushed her as he began to stroke her scar with the back of his index. "How'd you get it?"

"I… uhm…" the fact that he seemed amused by her stuttering didn't help her any. "I tried wielding the Master Sword but it burnt, well it didn't burn me but it, I don't know I blacked out and when I looked in the mirror it was there. The scar I mean. It was before I met you."

He frowned at her, looking concerned, finally stopping the stroking that had sent her heart racing. "Why'd you go after the Master Sword?"

Guilt wrapped her stomach and bit deep. "I… I thought that the Hero of Time, you, were still trapped in the Sacred Realm, I… I hadn't really understood the Time-twister effect then, so I thought you were still trapped. I was fourteen, and my family… you know what happened… I'd calculated that you were fifteen, and I just wanted the whole war finished, fifteen seemed old enough for me… I'm sorry, I needed something to blame, it was selfish, I…"

"You beat yourself up way too much, Sheik."

Her gaze snapped onto his, disbelief written all over her face. "You're not upset."

He shrugged, and for the first time it was him that looked away, twiddling with the hem of his white shirt. "I'm not surprised, is all. Anybody would go for it, I don't blame you for your grief. But moreover…" he looked ashamed, as he mumbled out, "I'm surprised you're not upset with _me_, for ripping the letter when I knew you were there."

"You… you _knew_…?"

"I'm sorry. I've still got the pieces, I just couldn't bring myself to read them. I… I wanted to hear it from you. I get it now that it was stupid, and selfish and pretty immoral to boot and I'm sorry but… I just didn't want it to be a lie again. I didn't know whether you were dead, or alive, or just a piece of my imagination, and I'd just dreamed you up or something."

He looked at her with guilt nibbled eyes, pleading forgiveness. "I'm sorry I hurt you so bad, Sheik. I just wanted reassurance, and I should've realised you were the one that needed it more. I'm sorry."

Again, that blush. Damn the blush. It was making him smile a little, but it made her look so… so… stupid! Go away!

The sense of dejavu added to the feeling of foolishness. "It's okay. Let's call it even."

He smiled at a joke only he understood, and the Sheikah looked away, muttering, "I know my name now, too."

He looked simply delighted as he leaned in on her. "Really!? What is it? Come on, don't stall, tell me!"

She allowed herself a small smile of pride before saying, "My parents… they'd given my real name to their friend in case something happened to them, and they told me. It's… it's Amara. It means 'Eternal' in Sheikah."

He gave a satisfied smile, nodding in what appeared he thought to be in a sagely manner. "I guess they made it easier for you to adjust by calling you Ammy."

She blinked. "How'd you know that?"

He looked surprised, "You told me the other night."

"But I didn't speak to you at the ball, I…" a grin had torn across his face, making dread mount in her. She had a dream about talking to him, finally getting him to forgive her but that was all it was; a dream! He couldn't have snuck into her room, he didn't even know where it was, much less how to get there, he…

They were way too close. Their legs were touching, and he had somehow snuck a hand around her waist. Sheik caught his scent of pine and clean metal, found herself unable to keep control of her heartbeat or the blood rushing to her face.

"You know," Link smiled, "I've been going over this theory since the Fire Temple, about your obsession with hiding your skin and getting weirded out by talks about girlfriends and all that…" he gave a chortle when she gulped. "And after some serious thinking, I came to this conclusion." He leaned closer, and she held her breath as their cheeks brushed, his voice filled with glee as he whispered in her ear, "_You're shy_."

Sheik jerked backwards, offended. "I am not shy!"

He was holding back loud laughter with difficulty. "Then why are you wearing long sleeves when it's nearing summer? And either you have a fever, or you're blushing."

The self-satisfied smile made her want to strangle him and die of embarrassment all at the same time. "I am _not_ _shy_!"

"Prove it," was all he said, and she bit her lip, trying to think of something to do. She _could_ argue that by buying the bait she'd be admitting that she was shy, _which she wasn't_, so she could refuse, but he could easily take that as a surrender…

"Amara," Link cupped her cheek, and their foreheads touched. They were far too close, far, far too close. Oh, why couldn't she just push him away? It would be so much easier for her… but that smile…

"I love you too," he murmured, before gently pressing a kiss to her mouth. Too shocked to respond, Amara Sheik just let herself by kissed, and Link pulled away with a chuckle, "Yep. Definitely shy."

"Shut up."

He pecked her cheek before complying with her request, holding her gently against his chest. Timidly, Sheik met his gaze, and in her red eyes Link saw a future full of roses and some thorns, plenty of sun filled skies with the occasional rain, lots of hard work and adjusting.

Great things come with great prices.

"What's Berumon like?"

"...Why?"

"I'd like to know a little bit about where I'm living from now on, if you know what I mean."

Sheik blinked her eyes, looking dumbfounded. "You're coming?"

"I got hired to drive a wagon. And I can fix wheels whenever they get damaged too."

"What… what're you going to do after you get there!?"

Link shrugged. "Crash at your place. Get myself a job somewhere. Maybe get you a ring or two."

It took her full two seconds before registering what he was implying. "You realise that you're leaving everything you know, right? You shouldn't make decisions like that on a whim. What if… what if it doesn't work out…?"

Link shrugged again. "Great things come with great prices."

She looked like she was at the end of her rope. "What's so great you'll leave everything behind?!"

"You, duh."

She flushed, trying to make coherent sentences. Finally she folded her arms over her head as if in great pain, bending over to rest her forehead on her knees. "This is way too much information in too short a time…"

Link laughed and stood from the bench, waiting for her to look up at him, giving her a hand to hold. "Come on, we've got a long trip, and you've got to let your Princess know that you have a friend that needs advising…"

He cocked a devious eyebrow at her look of outrage. "You know you want to."

"I hate you." she muttered as she grasped his hand, letting him lead her to the line of wagons, "I can't believe I'm doing this…"

"Hmm…"

"You're going to get sick of looking at me after two weeks of travelling, you know that?"

At this Link looked back at her to see that small smile despite the sullen face, and as he watched her, and the way she moved, and the way her red eyes caught the light… he couldn't help but grin.

"I don't think so, Sheik. I don't think so."

She smiled at him, his future, promising him days that he was sure he'd never regret.

* * *

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